Management Updates : Management News

Management News - April 2006

ManagementUpdates — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 21:47:14 GMT

"Microsoft is finally providing a consistent management UI and experience throughout the Windows stack. Karen Forster explores this strategy in an interview with Microsoft's Kirill Tatarinov."
Windows IT Pro Magazine – Karen Forster

Gates on the speed of Windows updates

"Nobody ever said software development was easy. In the wake of Microsoft's decision to delay the widespread release of Vista, Chairman Bill Gates met with CNET News.com and discussed the software company's struggle to ship Vista, the burden of backward compatibility, and how new features will be constantly added to Windows. Below is an excerpt: ...The one nice thing we've seen with consumers is they really use Auto Update, and so we're sort of their IT department in terms of updating. It's more complex for businesses. But even there the progress over the last four years of getting SMS (Systems Management Server) to be deployed and used and understood – how they take the updates in and when they pass them along to their systems – we've done super well on that, but it's not as simple as somebody just choosing to have Auto Update come from us."
Ina Fried – CNET News.com

A practical approach to delivering ITSM

"[...]From a process perspective, Microsoft fully supports the IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL). ITIL is a widely accepted approach to IT service management, providing a comprehensive and consistent set of best practices associated with systems management. In keeping with ITIL’s spirit to “adopt and adapt”, Microsoft has developed the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF). MOF extends the ITIL code of practice to support distributed environments, and extends the ITIL guidance into practical operational application. One of the aspects provided by MOF is the definition of 21 service management functions (SMFs) describing the series of management functions that are performed when operating an IT environment, and detailing the ITIL-based best practice approach for how to perform these functions."

Microsoft Management webcasts - April 2006

ManagementUpdates — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 21:29:00 GMT

TechNet Webcast: Understanding Group Policy (Part 1 of 3) (Level 200)
Friday, April 14, 2006: 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Pacific Time
Michael Murphy, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation

Group Policy in Microsoft Windows Server 2003 has almost 1,000 configurable settings. This first webcast in a three-part series begins by guiding you through the terms and concepts used in the Group Policy environment. It explains what Group Policy is, what Group Policy Objects (GPOs) are, and how GPOs are applied to users and computers. Join this webcast to find out the benefits of using Group Policy, how to create a test and staging environment, and how to use the two most common tools available to manage Group Policy, the Group Policy Management Console and the Group Policy Object Editor.

Management News - March 2006

ManagementUpdates — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 00:44:00 GMT

Microsoft Management Summit 2006 Registration Open

As we start putting the plans for MMS 2006 together, we’d like to ensure that the event matches your needs and requirements. Our aim is to provide you with the information and resources you need to manage your organization’s IT assets safely and effectively.

Thanks in advance for helping us make MMS 2006 your IT event of the year!

MMS 2006 Keynote Sessions

Attend these exciting and insightful keynote sessions to learn about Microsoft’s future plans for IT Management and how Microsoft manages it own desktops, severs, and applications.

Tuesday, April 25: The opening keynote will be presented by Bob Muglia, Senior Vice President, Server and Tools Business at Microsoft Corporation. The session will cover the Windows Server System promises for simplifying IT, delivering on Self Managing Dynamic Systems and more.

Wednesday, April 26: The midweek keynote by Kirill Tatarinov, Corporate Vice President, Windows Enterprise Management Division at Microsoft Corporation will drill into the plans for delivering on IT Service Management through Microsoft’s System Center Management product family.

Thursday, April 27: In the final keynote, Ron Markezich, Chief Information Officer and Vice President of Managed Solutions at Microsoft Corporation will speak about how Microsoft IT is delivering services as a key business enabler for the Microsoft Enterprise.

MMS 2006 Breakout Sessions

All Breakout sessions have now been selected and scheduled. The full list of breakout sessions is available on the event web site.

Upcoming Microsoft Management webcasts - March 2006

ManagementUpdates — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 00:27:20 GMT

TechNet Webcast: Planning and Deploying Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 (Level 200)
Wednesday, March 22, 2006; 11:30 A.M.–1:00 P.M. Pacific Time
Keith Combs, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation

"Plan your work and then work your plan," so the saying goes. This is particularly true when using Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 to install or upgrade a management solution. Join this webcast and learn how to plan your work more effectively. In our discussion, we cover best practices and deployment considerations when upgrading or installing a management solution using MOM 2005. This presentation also includes a review of MOM 2005 features, deployment scenarios, and upgrade tips.

TechNet Webcast: Managing Exchange 2003 with MOM 2005: Better Together (Level 200)
On Demand
Dale Koetke, Lead Program Manager, Microsoft Operations Manager, Microsoft Corporation

Learn how Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 and the Exchange Server 2003 Management Pack for MOM 2005 can help improve the health and performance of Exchange Server 2003 through specialized, proactive monitoring and alerting. This webcast explores the wide range of valuable tools and knowledge contained in this Management Pack and shows how you can use them to identify, understand, and resolve IT health issues to keep Exchange running and your organization's e-mails flowing.

TechNet Webcast: Active Directory Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 (Level 200)
On Demand

In this webcast, we explore the features and capabilities of the Microsoft Active Directory Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005. This management pack monitors events that are placed in the Application, System, and Directory Service event logs by various Active Directory components and subsystems. It also monitors the overall health of Active Directory and alerts you to critical performance issues. Learn how the Active Directory Management Pack for MOM 2005 can provide you with valuable monitoring information for most implementations of Active Directory. We also show how Active Directory Management Pack reports make important information available to you in the areas of trending, user account problems, configuration, and service level availability.

SMS Training: How to Install and Run Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003
On Demand

Learn how to install and complete basic tasks with Systems Management Server 2003, including the deployment of software packages to workstations. This course includes a significant amount of hands-on lab time so you can actually work with the technology directly. This course will provide an understanding of: software and package management; processes, methodologies, techniques and tools available from Microsoft to assist in the planning and execution of a Microsoft SMS 2003 solution; management requirements associated with maintaining an SMS environment

Management News - February 2006

ManagementUpdates — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 02:55:15 GMT

Softricity Working with Microsoft to offer Application Virtualization and Streaming within Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003

Boston, MA — February 6, 2006 — Softricity®, the on-demand application virtualization company, today announced the immediate availability of its SoftGrid™ virtualization platform within Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003. Now, Microsoft SMS 2003 customers can take advantage of Softricity's application virtualization platform to reduce the overall cost of application management. Softricity's new product, SoftGrid for Microsoft SMS 2003, helps IT administrators instantly gain all the benefits of the SoftGrid platform – including application virtualization, on-demand streaming and self-provisioning – from within the SMS infrastructure.

"By integrating Softricity's application virtualization and on-demand software streaming with SMS 2003, customers can accelerate their SMS application deployments and reduce costs by shortening some potentially lengthy management processes - such as compatibility testing - while helping IT offer software in the context of services to the business." — Felicity McGourty, Director of Product Marketing in the Windows Enterprise Management Division at Microsoft Corp.

MOM Wins Gold Award for Systems Management from TechTarget 2005 Products of the Year!

“Simplicity, ease of use and configuration were the qualities that made the performance management software known as Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 worthy of the Gold Award in the SearchWinSystems.com systems management category. Designed to reduce the complexity associated with managing today's IT infrastructure environments, MOM 2005 helps simplify the identification of performance issues. It also streamlines the process for determining the root cause of the problem and facilitates quick resolution to restore services and to prevent potential IT problems. MOM 2005's integrated framework provides Web-services-based interconnection with other management systems already in place. With its new console, you can view the systems' health and access the integrated reporting server. MOM 2005 supports an expanded set of configurations and architectures over and above those offered by MOM 2000. […]A new multi-homing feature allows information collected by MOM 2005 agents to be forwarded to and monitored by multiple and separate IT groups requiring visibility into the health of the same servers.” Read more on TechTarget's 2005 Products of the Year!

Microsoft Management Summit 2006 Registration Open!

IT’s Showtime! by TechNet-IT Pro On-Demand Service

New videos are available in IT’s Showtime! by TechNet - our IT Pro video on-demand service featuring top rated presentations filmed in live Microsoft events and conferences. The following videos are from the MMS Roadshow:

Windows Server System:
Kiril Tatarinov, Bill Anderson
Microsoft Management Product Roadmap

Bill Anderson
SMS 2003 Technical Drilldown

And also
Best of MMS: MOM 2005 Technical Drilldown - Starring Vladimir Joanovic
Best of MMS: The Dynamic Systems Initiative - Starring Michael Emanuel

Upcoming Microsoft Management webcasts - January 2006

ManagementUpdates — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 22:01:00 GMT

TechNet Webcast: Active Directory Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 (Level 200)
Wednesday, January 18, 2006 - 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM Pacific Time
Keith Combs, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation

TechNet Webcast: Planning and Deploying Systems Management Server 2003 (Level 200)
Wednesday, January 18, 2006 - 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM Pacific Time
John Baker, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation

Planning the deployment of your Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 environment is an important step towards ensuring that your installation is successful and stable. In this webcast, we offer best practices for deployment and look at various tools that are available to assist you with your SMS 2003 installation.

TechNet Webcast: An In-Depth Analysis of Self-Managing Dynamic Systems (Level 200)
Wednesday, January 18, 2006 - 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM Pacific Time
Peter Meister, Lead Product Manager, Windows Server, Microsoft Corporation
Jeff Woolsey, Lead Program Manager, Microsoft Corporation

Self-managing dynamic systems are information technology (IT) infrastructures that abstract, or virtualize, computing resources to help IT professionals deploy business services more nimbly and respond quickly to business requirements. Self-managing dynamic systems can have a powerful effect on how you approach your business. This webcast provides an in-depth analysis of self-managing dynamic systems. Learn how to create highly available, highly reliable server operations by combining key management technologies with virtualization and coupling them with the Microsoft Windows Server operating system.

TechNet Webcast: Troubleshooting Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 (Level 200)
Monday, January 23, 2006 - 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM Pacific Time
John Baker, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation

Troubleshooting Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 installations can be difficult unless you know where to look and what to look for. This webcast describes some of the common problems with SMS 2003 environments and illustrates straightforward solutions with practical demonstrations. We cover common problems and solutions, including those related to installing SMS management points and advanced clients, communication between the components in your SMS hierarchy, management point security, and Microsoft SQL Server access.

TechNet Webcast: Best Practices for Security Update Management with Systems Management Server 2003 (Level 200)
Wednesday, January 25, 2006 - 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM Pacific Time
John Baker, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation

Join this webcast to learn about the best practices you should consider when you develop an update management solution using Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003. Get detailed recommendations for all parts of a software update solution, including the setup stage and the software update cycle. We provide specific guidance on updating desktop, mobile, and server computers. We also discuss using the Dell inventory tool to update Dell servers.

TechNet Webcast: Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 for Exchange Deployments (Level 200)
Friday, January 27, 2006 - 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM Pacific Time
Keith Combs, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation

In this webcast, we explore the Microsoft Exchange 2003 Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 and show how it can help your organization proactively identify problems. We discuss the monitoring capabilities provided by this management pack and demonstrate how they can help you to identify problems and quickly solve them. We also examine the reporting capabilities provided by this management pack and explain how they can help you avoid problems.

Management News - January 2006

ManagementUpdates — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 21:11:00 GMT

Microsoft Management Summit 2006 Registration Open!

The year’s MMS 2006 event will take place this April in sunny San Diego and will once again focus on technical content covering Microsoft management products, technologies, and solutions. The MMS 2006 web site is live and registration is open. Full details of the event including the outline agenda, sponsorship information, registration options, and hotel information can be found on the event web site at: http://www.mms2006.com. As we start putting the plans for MMS 2006 together, we’d like to ensure that the event matches your needs and requirements. Our aim is to provide you with the information and resources you need to manage your organization’s IT assets safely and effectively. To help us achieve this goal, we would appreciate your help. Please take a few moments to answer the Content Survey, which should take no longer than 10 minutes to complete. Your answers will be kept confidential, and are used only as part of a statistical analysis to help allocate breakout session and hands-on lab slots where they are most needed. Thanks in advance for helping us make MMS 2006 your IT event of the year!

MOF: An Actionable and Prescriptive Approach to ITIL

This white paper summarizes the content of Microsoft® Operations Framework (MOF) and explains how MOF builds on and extends the Information Technology Infrastructure Library, commonly known as ITIL, to provide IT managers with an actionable set of prescriptive guidelines for improving operations. Today there is tremendous pressure on IT organizations to reduce costs, increase service levels, and deliver demonstrated business value. In light of these pressing concerns, the success of continuous improvement depends on addressing people and process as well as technology. The goal of MOF is to help IT organizations achieve reliability, availability, supportability, and manageability in their mission-critical systems. Because MOF practices are easy to incorporate, either selectively or comprehensively, operations staff can realize tangible benefits by following the model. Applying the principles of ITIL to the Microsoft technology platform, MOF provides a foundation to help IT organizations meet the challenges described above and support the goal of continuous improvement. MOF presents proven team structures and operational processes and applies best practices derived from the experience of Microsoft operations groups, partners, and customers to improve the efficiency and quality of IT operations. This paper offers a foundation for understanding the in-depth information provided in companion MOF white papers and guidance documents.

Management News - December 2005

ManagementUpdates — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 09:58:00 GMT

Highlights: IT Forum 2005

From November 14-November 17, in Barcelona, Spain, Microsoft hosted off its IT Forum 2005 - a conference created specifically for IT Professionals. In addition to keynotes from Microsoft executives Bob Muglia and Jeff Raikes, Windows Enterprise Management Corporate Vice President, Kirill Tatarinov, spoke to attendees about investments Microsoft is making to help customers optimize their IT management infrastructure which will reduce cost and complexity.

Tatarinov addressed the opportunity that exists for customers to realize a world of self-managing dynamic systems to streamline and automate much of the routine maintenance of their systems, freeing up IT to be used in more strategic ways. To this point, Tatarinov made the following announcements that demonstrate progress being made with the Dynamic Systems Initiative, helping small, medium and large organizations move towards lifecycle management through the capturing and use of system knowledge in models across the lifecycle to design more manageable applications and automate on-going operations.

WS-Management update: HP and Dell commit to WS-Management supported hardware in 2006

At the IT Forum in Barcelona, Spain, Kirill Tatarinov, Corporate VP of Windows Enterprise Management Division, outlined progress being made with WS-Management, the specification jointly authored by AMD, BMC Software, CA, Dell, Fujitsu, Intel, NEC, Novell, Sun, Symantec and WBEM Solutions that uses Web services to manage networked clients, servers and devices. He announced support from both HP and Dell to include WS-Management support during 2006. Supporting statements from HP and Dell follow:

Dell: "Dell believes WS-Management is a Web services-based protocol that will address the systems management challenges presented by heterogeneous, highly distributed, service oriented application architectures," said Pete Morowski, Vice President of software at Dell. "Dell applauds Microsoft’s initiatives to drive WS-MAN standardization with DMTF hardware management standards. As a co-author of the standard, Dell will actively drive implementation of WS-Management into Dell and partner applications for delivery of WS-Man enabled solutions in the second half of 2006 – ultimately delivering customers enhanced flexibility and cost optimization for their enterprise computing resources."

HP: “To continue HP leadership as the best managed server platform, HP is pleased to be working with Microsoft to enhance our Windows customers’ experience. We’re delivering support for WS-Management with HP ProLiant servers in conjunction with Windows Server 2003 R2, as well as enhanced integration with MOM and SMS for ProLiant and Integrity servers" said Paul Miller, Vice President of Marketing for Industry Standard Servers. "These extensions to HP's management portfolio offer mutual HP and Microsoft customers even more choice in management tools, and complement HP Storage Management & HP OpenView products for management of the heterogeneous Adaptive Enterprise."

Now Available for Download: Solutions Released at IT Forum

Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 Desired Configuration Monitoring (DCM)
This solution enables IT professionals to easily define desired configuration settings across multiple hardware and software configuration sources and detect configuration non-compliance before service outages occur.

The Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 SLA Scorecard for Exchange
This solution provides an executive dashboard for measuring and trending service availability and workloads across multiple server roles in a Microsoft Exchange Server messaging environment. This solution also enables IT managers and service managers to collaborate and define desired service levels and identify the cause of service outages.

Both the SMS 2003 Desired Configuration Monitoring and the MOM 2005 SLA Scorecard for Exchange are available as free downloads at the Microsoft Download Center (www.microsoft.com/downloads)

Microsoft Exchange Service Management Guide
This guide is a top-down, business-driven approach to managing a messaging environment. It specifically addresses the strategic business value that an Exchange team generates and the need to deliver a superior messaging service. The guidance will help you implement process and team best practices within the corresponding components of the Exchange Service Management solution: Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 SLA Scorecard for Exchange and Systems Management Server 2003 Desired Configuration Monitoring.

Windows IT Pro Magazine Readers Rank WSUS #1 Patch Management Product

A recent survey of 1,700 readers of Windows IT Pro Magazine revealed that Windows Server Update Services won first place in the Patch Management product category for the 2005 Windows IT Pro Readers' Choice Awards.

Upcoming Microsoft Management webcasts in December

jonathanh — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 21:32:00 GMT

TechNet Webcast: A More Secure and Well-Managed Infrastructure (Part 15 of 18): Automating Desktop Configuration with SMS 2003 OSD (Level 300)
Wednesday, December 07, 2005 9:30 AM-10:30 AM Pacific Time
John Baker, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation

Open Software Description (OSD) is an Extensible Markup Language technology that describes software components and their relationships to other components. The OSD vocabulary is a standardized way to describe software components, their versions, their underlying structures and their dependence on other components. Concluding this series-within-a-series about Microsoft Systems Management Server, this webcast shows how to use the OSD to enable organizations to deploy a standard set of desktop operating systems.

Microsoft Webcast: Disk-to-Disk-to-Tape Backup with Data Protection Manager and CommVault
Thursday, December 08, 2005 11:00 AM Pacific Time
Dave Ryan, Sr. Product Manager, Microsoft Corporation, and Randy De Meno, Director of Advanced Applications & Microsoft Partnership, CommVault

Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) 2006 is a server software application designed from the ground up to optimize disk-based backup and recovery. With DPM, recovering information is as simple as browsing a share and copying directly from the DPM to the production server. DPM provides several unique capabilities, including rapid and reliable recovery, efficient and near-continuous protection, and operational simplicity. In this webcast, learn how Microsoft is partnering with CommVault to deliver an integrated disk-to-disk-to-tape backup and recovery solution, extending the traditional disk-to-disk-to-tape scenario by offering freedom to recover the data regardless of media type and where it originated.

TechNet Webcast: A More Secure and Well-Managed Infrastructure (Part 16 of 18): Using MOM to Monitor Your Environment (Level 300)
Friday, December 09, 2005 9:30 AM-10:30 AM Pacific Time
John Baker, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation

Adding servers to an environment to add business value might seem easy, but you must consider the costs of keeping all those servers running, secure and up to date. This webcast presents an example organization that has chosen Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) to help manage a rapidly growing network. This webcast and the one to follow examine how our example organization leveraged MOM and the MOM Management packs to reduce management overhead. See how our example organization monitors its servers worldwide, how the design points for deploying MOM were chosen, how the server locations were decided and how all servers were monitored.

TechNet Webcast: Planning and Deploying Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 (Level 200)
Monday, December 12, 2005 9:30 AM Pacific Time
Chris Avis, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation

Planning and deploying your Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 environment helps to ensure that your installation is a success. This webcast presents the best practices for deployment and introduces the tools available to assist you with your SMS 2003 installation. This webcast demonstrates the Capacity Planner tool in SMS 2003 that can help model the topology of your proposed SMS site and suggest appropriate configurations for your SMS site systems.

TechNet Webcast: A More Secure and Well-Managed Infrastructure (Part 17 of 18): Using MOM Management Packs to Monitor Your Environment (Level 300)
Wednesday, December 14, 2005 9:30 AM-10:30 AM Pacific Time
John Baker, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation

Continuing from the previous webcast, this webcast shows how our example organization used Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) to manage its environment. This installment examines a variety of management packs to monitor Microsoft Systems Management Server, Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration, Sybari Antigen and third-party servers.

TechNet Webcast: Planning and Deploying Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 (Level 200)
Friday, December 16, 2005 - 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM Pacific Time
Chris Avis, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation

Join this webcast for a complete look at Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005, whether you are upgrading or newly installing a MOM 2005 management solution. Learn about MOM 2005 features and components, deployment topologies and scenarios, planning considerations, upgrade tips, and security settings.

TechNet Webcast: Troubleshooting Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 (Level 200)
Friday, December 16, 2005 - 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM Pacific Time
Chris Avis, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation

Troubleshooting Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 installations can be a difficult task unless you know where to look and what to look for. This webcast examines some of the common problems you are likely to encounter in SMS 2003 environments and provides straightforward solutions with practical demonstrations. We cover issues involving both management points and Advanced Clients, including troubleshooting steps you can use to identify specific problems and techniques for resolving the issues you find.

TechNet Webcast: Securing Your Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 Environment (Level 200)
Monday, December 19, 2005 - 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM Pacific Time
Chris Avis, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation

Get an overview of security management and learn about the new security features that have been added to Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005. In particular, this webcast introduces you to an important new scenario in MOM 2005, trusted monitoring. Discover how to secure your MOM 2005 deployments from the MOM management (server-side) and the MOM agent (client-side) perspectives.

TechNet Webcast: System Center Capacity Planner 2006 Overview (Level 200)
Monday, December 19, 2005 - 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM Pacific Time
Chris Avis, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft System Center Capacity Planner 2006 provides you with state-of-the-art tools and guidance to help you create a system architecture model for deploying a Microsoft server application, such as Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 or Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005. Tune in to this webcast to learn more about the capabilities and features of System Center Capacity Planner 2006, and find out how it can help you plan and implement a successful deployment.

TechNet Webcast: Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 for Active Directory (Level 200)
Tuesday, December 20, 2005 - 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM Pacific Time
Kevin Remde, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation

This webcast presents the Active Directory Management Pack in Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005, a valuable tool for monitoring events that are placed in the Application, System, and Directory Service event logs by various components and subsystems of Microsoft Active Directory directory services. This management pack provides important information in the areas of trending, user account problems, configuration, and service level availability. It also monitors the overall health of Active Directory and alerts you to critical performance issues. The Active Directory Management Pack is designed to provide monitoring information for most implementations of Active Directory. Join this webcast to explore the various monitoring scenarios.

TechNet Webcast: Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 Performance and Sizing (Level 200)
Wednesday, December 21, 2005 - 8:00 AM - 9:30 AM Pacific Time
Chris Avis, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation

This webcast explains how the configuration of key components in the Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 architecture affects the performance of the monitoring environment as a whole. Join us to find out what the support limits are for MOM 2005 configurations and understand the reasons behind them. We conclude by showing common MOM problems that affect performance and the solutions to these problems.

Microsoft Management News, October 2005

ManagementUpdates — Fri, 28 Oct 2005 04:08:00 GMT

Microsoft Announces Comprehensive Virtualization Strategy to Enable Self-Managing Dynamic Systems

On Oct. 10 Microsoft announced a broad reaching plan to enable ‘self-managing dynamic systems’. This announcement specifically focuses on virtualization technologies, changes in Windows licensing, and our long-term DSI strategy. System Center products MOM and SMS were important components in the announcement and supplied demos. For further information on this announcement please review Microsoft Announces Comprehensive Virtualization Strategy to Enable Self-Managing Dynamic Systems. The DSI web site has been updated to reflect the announcement as well and can be viewed at Dynamic Systems Initiative.

WS-Management – a new Remote Management Protocol - submitted to DMTF and will ship in Windows Server 2003 R2 and Windows Vista

Web-Services for Management (WS-Management) is a multi-vendor initiative to develop a standard protocol for remote management. WS-Management will allow management vendors and development tools to use a common method of communicating management information across a distributed system. The purpose of this new specification is to reduce the overall complexity of management and build management capabilities into the platform itself. The WS-Management specification, co-authored by 12 organizations, was submitted to the Distributed Management Task Force, Inc. (DMTF®) in August 2005. The submission follows a number of feedback and interoperability workshops. Co-authors of the WS-Management specification have increased from 5 to 12 in 2005. The twelve co-authors include Microsoft Corp., Intel Corporation, Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Dell, Sun Microsystems, Symantec Corp., Novell Inc., Computer Associates Inc. (CA), BMC Software Inc., WBEM Solutions Inc., Fujitsu-Siemens Computers, and NEC Corp. Bob Muglia, senior vice president of the Windows Server™ Division, announced the submission in his keynote address at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference 2005 (PDC05) in Los Angeles. Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 will be able to monitor the new WS-Management service and collect hardware events as part of the Base OS Management pack for Windows Server 2003 R2. Read the press release and find out more information about WS-Management including an overview and a whitepaper describing how to use WS-Management protocol (Windows Remote Management Service and Utility) in Windows Server 2003 R2 for hardware management.

Microsoft Moves to Further Simplify Server Licensing

Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft Watch October 10, 2005 The Redmondians are continuing in their quest to simplify the volume-licensing maze that they've created over time. On Monday, Microsoft made official the latest tweaks to its program. Instead of charging users of its Windows Server System products (Windows Server, Exchange Server, BizTalk Server, SQL Server, etc.) licensing fees at installation, the company is now moving to a model where users pay at the time of consumption. The changes take effect December 1.

Managing Windows with Windows Management Instrumentation – Video Overview, New Tool, and WMI Scripting Assistance

Microsoft continues to invest in Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) in order to ensure the manageability of Windows. Watch a video hosted by WMI team members Alain Lissor, Rajesh Mishra and Daniel Pravat that demonstrates how one can more easily manage Windows via WMI. Microsoft has also recently released WMI Code Creator 1.0 which allows IT Professionals to quickly create management scripts and to help developers learn WMI scripting and WMI Provider Development 1.0 for .NET Framework (WMI.NET). Microsoft also has a number of other useful WMI tools for download including WMI Administrative Tools (set of four tools), Scriptomatic 2.0 (tool for writing WMI Scripts in VBScript, Perl, Python or Jscript) and a Scriptomatic 2.0 Tutorial. The TechNet ScriptCenter has a large repository of task-based scripting examples that leverage WMI and a Scripting Primer. More detailed information about WMI can be found on MSDN. Video: Managing Windows with Windows Management Instrumentation on Channel 9 (48 minutes – Sept 2005).

Microsoft Management News, September 2005

ManagementUpdates — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 02:53:00 GMT

A More Secure and Well-Managed Enterprise

Attend this webcast series and learn how to become a dynamic IT organization and achieve operational effectiveness through delivering higher quality of service, email availability, and a more secure Windows environment. Our technical experts will help guide you through step by step instructions on how to install, configure, automate and mange a more secure and well managed infrastructure. Topics covered will include Active Directory installation and monitoring, Step-by-step patch management implementation, server, application, and desktop monitoring, PKI Infrastructures, Security concepts and principals, and the utilization and configuration of Group Policy, SMS, MOM, ISA and Exchange. Don’t miss out on this series as we provide a clear road map on the journey to a more secure and well managed enterprise environment.

Bonus: Attend four of the five October webcasts in this series (live or on demand) by October 31, 2005 and you will receive a Microsoft “geek” t-shirt. Attend seven of the eight November webcasts in this series (live or on demand) and you will receive a multi-tool kit. And, by attending a live webcast in this series and submitting an evaluation, you will also qualify to win a Portable Media Center pre-loaded with some of our best webcasts. Offers open to residents of the U.S. and Canada only. See webcast landing page for details.

Management Pack and Connector Catalog

Visit the Microsoft on-line Management Pack and Connector Catalog which includes over 200 Microsoft and 3rd party solutions, with search capabilities and links. Get the Management Packs, Connectors, and add ins you need to provide solutions.

Recent changes include:

New MOM MPs
Engyro's MOM to Tivoli TEC RTO Pinpoint
Netuitive's SI
NEW SMS Add in - HP's OVO
Updates/Revisions - Engyro's MOM to Remedy ARS Connector

Microsoft Management News, March 2005

ManagementUpdates — Wed, 02 Mar 2005 17:26:00 GMT

Register now for Microsoft Management Summit 2005
On-line registration for MMS 2005 is open, and can be accessed from the event web site. This site also provides an overview of the event, the facilities at the venue and information about the schedule and receptions.

This year’s summit will be held at The Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. Two different registration options are available for MMS 2005 attendees - they may either purchase their MMS 2005 registration and hotel accommodation separately, or as a package. Details are provided on the registration page.

“Knowledge” is this year’s conference theme and the event will be packed with useful information about how to optimize Windows®-based client and server networks. Attendees will learn about smart solutions for deployment and management of services and security, as well as how to seamlessly incorporate the latest innovations into their enterprise.

With all of this detailed content and the usual expert speakers the Microsoft Management Summit will clearly be the top management event of 2005. Visit the conference web site for more details and registration information.

Crisscross pre-event for system integrators held at Microsoft Management Summit 2005
This year, The Microsoft Management Summit (April 18-22, Las Vegas) is adding a one day briefing held April 18th to help System Integrators deliver value to their customers in the areas of compliance, line of business, asset management, and heterogeneity.

These sessions will cover the integration efforts and value of adding 3rd party tools for MOM 2005 and SMS 2003 into your management deployments and compliment your service portfolios. The event is FREE but registration is required.

How to Register:
Those interested in attending should email msmp@microsoft.com and request a nomination form. You may nominate yourself and any of your company’s consultants. Microsoft will begin sending individual confirmations this week, so be sure and send in your nomination form today!

Microsoft Management News - 12/1/04

ManagementUpdates — Mon, 06 Dec 2004 02:05:00 GMT

Major Management Announcements at ITForum 2004, Copenhagen

Bill Gates delivers vision for reducing IT complexity and announces software advances for operational efficiency at IT Forum Europe. Other announcements include the worldwide availability of new Windows Server System technologies, including Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 and Virtual Server 2005. These two products enable customers to reduce cost and complexity of managing distributed systems, as part of Microsoft's Dynamic Systems Initiative.

Microsoft and Dell Announce Strategic Development Partnership

Microsoft and Dell announced a strategic development partnership aimed at improving the way customers manage systems across the enterprise. As part of this partnership, the companies are simplifying the way customers update hundreds to thousands of Dell servers in their enterprise with the first unified change-management solution that leverages existing operating system management applications for hardware updates.

Released: Virtual Server Migration Tool (VSMT)

The Virtual Server Migration Tool (VSMT) focuses on the problem of simplifying the migration of a complete Windows server environment from a physical server to a virtual server configuration. Without VSMT, the process of migrating from a physical server into a virtual sever would be the same as trying to build a clone of an existing server – a time consuming process.
One of two approaches could be taken – 1) An administrator could image an existing server, install the imaging software in the virtual server session, and then restore the image into the virtual server instance, or 2) the provisioning of the server would have to be scripted such that the server could be rebuilt from the ground up in a virtual server environment. VSMT automates this process and quickly helps migrate a functional physical server environment to a virtual environment – in most cases taking less than an hour.
Some of the potential usage scenarios for VSMT are:

Legacy application migration to Virtual Server 2005.
VSMT provides a quick and easy method for customers to migrate legacy NT4 applications to an instance of Windows NT 4 running as virtual machine in VS. Applications can be moved to new hardware for better performance, reliability, and maintainability – helping the rapid migration of existing server workloads to new and improved hardware.
Targeted server consolidation.
Multiple physical servers running at low utilization rates can be consolidated onto a smaller number of physical servers running Virtual Server 2005 and Windows Server 2003.

Upcoming Webcasts

TechNet Webcast: Managing Your Group Policy Environment with GPMC (Part 12 of 14) (Level 200)
Wednesday, December 8, 2004 - 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Pacific Time
Matt Hester, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation.
In this session we discuss the use of the Group Policy Management Console to manage your Group Policy environment. We will include a discussion of Group Policy Results, explaining its role in policy management, and showing how you can use it to plan and determine what settings get applied when users and computers move around. We will also describe how to use a Staging Server to plan and test Group Policy, including a demonstration of the import and export of Policy objects between the test environment and the live servers.
TechNet Webcast: Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 - Installing a two-node virtual machine cluster (Level 200)
Thursday, December 9, 2004 - 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM Pacific Time
Robert Larson, Subject Area Manager, Microsoft Corporation.
Looking for an easy way to build a cluster of virtual machines to avoid the cost and complexity of a physical environment? Attend this session to learn how to create a two-node cluster of virtual machines running Windows Server 2003 - a key feature of Virtual Server 2005. This session will include a demonstration of the steps involved in building a cluster of virtual machines.
TechNet Webcast: Virtual Server 2005 COM API: Automating Your Virtual World (Level 300)
Tuesday, December 14, 2004 - 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM Pacific Time
Robert Larson, Subject Area Manager, Microsoft Corporation.
During this webcast you will learn about the Virtual Server COM API and how to create scripts to automate tasks like virtual machine creation, configuration, enumeration, and provisioning VMs for a test lab. The session will focus on demonstrating small scriplet building blocks and assembling them into useful scripts. Session assumes knowledge on writing VBScripts.
TechNet Webcast: Group Policy Best Practices (Part 14 of 14) (Level 200)
Wednesday, December 15, 2004 - 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Pacific Time
Matt Hester, TechNet Presenter, Microsoft Corporation.
In this final session, we will offer some best practices for creating and applying GPOs in complex networking environments. We will also look at using inventory tools as a way to manage Group Policy objects.

Microsoft Management News - 11/1/04

ManagementUpdates — Mon, 01 Nov 2004 22:31:00 GMT

Save the date - Microsoft Management Summit 2005
Microsoft Management Summit 2005 will be held in Las Vegas on April 18th – 22nd 2005 – save the date now! Visit the event web site www.mms2005.com for more information.

eWEEK Review: MOM 2005 Corrals Microsoft Systems
"Microsoft Corp.'s Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 effectively rode herd over numerous Windows 2000 and 2003 servers and a host of other Microsoft operating systems in eWEEK Labs' tests. IT shops with a significant percentage of Windows systems should consider using MOM 2005 for day-to-day operations, including performance monitoring and automatic system tuning."

Taking the Complexity Out of IT Management: AMD, Dell, Intel, Microsoft and Sun Publish New Web Services Management Specification
Microsoft, with industry partners Dell, Intel and Sun, announced the publication of WS-Management, a new Web services specification that defines how to use Web services to manage networked clients, servers and devices. Microsoft, along with Dell, Intel and Sun, feel that a specification is needed that addresses all aspects of IT management, from the largest servers to the smallest devices, while providing significantly reduced complexity to customers.

Microsoft Management News - 10/6/04

ManagementUpdates — Thu, 07 Oct 2004 04:10:00 GMT

Virtual Server 2005 Released to Manufacturing
Microsoft Corp. reached another milestone in its Dynamic Systems Initiative (DSI) with the release to manufacturing of Virtual Server 2005 Standard and Enterprise Editions, including pricing. This first version of Microsoft’s Virtual Machine solution for Windows Server 2003 helps customers reduce hardware costs and increase operational efficiency in three key scenarios: automation of software test and development environments; re-hosting of legacy applications; and consolidation of production server workloads such as networking, directory infrastructure or departmental applications.

Windows Server System Evaluation DVD Available
Windows Server System is an integrated platform of productivity-enhancing products, built on the solid foundation of Microsoft Windows Server 2003, that delivers an efficient, low-cost, well-managed environment. With this solid infrastructure in place, you can deliver new functionality to help users be more productive with mobile access, team-collaboration tools, and real-time communications. And with industry-leading management and security technologies that provide centralized control of your infrastructure, Windows Server System can make everyday challenges in the IT world easier for you—and your company's budget.
Get your free Windows Server System Evaluation DVD and experience everything that Windows Server System has to offer.

Get ready for IT Forum 2004
16-19 November, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Attend the worldwide launch of Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 and Virtual Server 2005.
Register now and get a FREE copy of MOM 2005 Workgroup Edition.