Starting SCOM 2012 installation/ PILOT / POC

This is a good place to start:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/kevinholman/archive/2013/10/18/opsmgr-2012-r2-quickstart-deployment-guide.aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh457006.aspx

Of course spending time on the Virtual Academy and TechNet Virtual Labs will help.
http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/virtuallabs

Regards

Windows 2012 R2 AD RMS and Exchange 2010 SP 1 integration

I carried out the usual step by step tasks to get this done. Then I arrive at making IRM work on the mobile devices and Outlook Web App. I went with the following steps:

1. Create Domain Global Distribution Group for AD RMS Super User.
2. Added the Federation mailbox to the AD RMS Super User Group.
3. Executed the Set-IRMConfiguration cmdlet to enable IRM on the CAS server roles.

When testing with Test-IRMConfiguration -sender , the command fails at :

 

          Acquiring Rights Account Certificate (RAC) and Client Licensor Certificate (CLC) ...

              - WARNING: Failed to acquire a Rights Account Certificate (RAC) and/or a Client Licensor Certificate (CLC

          ). This failure may cause features such as Transport Decryption, Transport Protection Rules, Journal Report D

          ecryption, IRM in Outlook Web App, IRM in Exchange ActiveSync, and IRM Search to not work. Make sure that the

           Exchange Servers Group is granted "Read" and "Read & Execute" rights on the ServerCertification.asmx and Pub

          lish.asmx pipelines on your AD RMS server. For details, see "Set Permissions on the AD RMS Certification Pipe

          line" at  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=186951

 Looking at the provided link (http://technet.microsoft.com/library/ee849850(WS.10).aspx), it only covers Windows 2008 R2. For Windows 2012 R2, you want to do the extra step of going to the %systemdrive%\Inetpub\wwwroot\_wmcs\licensing directory  for the publish.asmx file and assign the read and read-execute permissions to Exchange Server (domain group) and AD RMS Service Group (local group on the AD RMS server). 

The publish.asmx file does not exist in the %systemdrive%\Inetpub\wwwroot\_wmcs\Certification\ directory as the link describe.

Hope it helps.

Lync 2013 Workloads poster

Lync 2013 Workloads posters are up.

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=39968

Lync 2013 support for SQL Cluster.

Here is the latest update on Lync 2013 support for SQL Cluster. .

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg398990.aspx

 

Lync Server 2013 supports the user of either SQL mirroring or SQL clustering for each Lync Server database. You can easily set up SQL mirroring with the Topology Builder tool in Lync Server 2013. For SQL failover clustering, you must use SQL Server for setup.

Lync Server 2013 supports SQL clustering topologies for all deployments, including greenfield deployments and organizations that have upgraded from previous versions of Lync Server.

Enterprise Lync Deployment, Lync platform, Enhancing Lync experience

This is a free webcast on The Importance of User
Satisfaction in UC Adoption

Enterprise Lync Deployment, Lync platform, Enhancing Lync experience: SO YOU’VE CHOSEN MICROSOFT LYNC. NOW WHAT?

PowerShell Anger Management -

This a good read especially in managing the PowerShell interface to show different colors for errors and information. Clearly bringing attention to the right message from PowerShell is key here.

PowerShell Anger Management -- Microsoft Certified Professional Magazine Online: PowerShell Anger Management

Lync Online: Guided Walkthrough for Troubleshooting Communication Between Lync Online Users and Their Federated Contacts - NextHop - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

Are you looking for help to set up communication between Lync online users and their federated contacts? This guided walkthrough—based on analysis of Microsoft Support cases—walks you through the essential steps.

Lync Online: Guided Walkthrough for Troubleshooting Communication Between Lync Online Users and Their Federated Contacts - NextHop - Site Home - TechNet Blogs: Lync Online: Guided Walkthrough for Troubleshooting Communication Between Lync Online Users and Their Federated Contacts

Yammer, SharePoint and SkyDrive

got this from my Redmond Report Newsletter.

Microsoft today said its $1.2 billion acquisition of Yammer has resulted in record growth for the cloud-based provider of enterprise social networking. At the same time, Yammer's key rival NewsGator plans to extend the reach of its enterprise social networking platform beyond SharePoint.

http://redmondmag.com/articles/2012/06/25/microsoft-paying-a-billion-to-buy-yammer.aspx

 

In a vague news release announcing the growth of Yammer, Microsoft disclosed that sales quadrupled last quarter and the total user base grew to seven million. During the quarter, 290 new customers added Yammer including GlaxoSmithKline, SABMiller and TGI Fridays, among others.

http://redmondmag.com/articles/2013/02/20/yammer-quadruples-sales.aspx

 

Since the deal closed last year and Yammer was folded into the Office Division, Microsoft has said little about how it will integrate Yammer into SharePoint. What Microsoft has revealed is that it will integrate Yammer with SkyDrive Pro, the cloud-based storage Microsoft is offering with SharePoint 2013 and Office 365. Yammer will also give SharePoint users the ability to preview and edit SharePoint files from their Yammer news feeds via Office Web Apps.

 

These two features, slated for release this summer, will make it easier for users to find and share information in the Yammer interface. While Microsoft hasn't said how and when it will more tightly integrate Yammer into SharePoint, NewsGator does not see it as a threat. NewsGator has a large installed base of large enterprise customers (many with tens of thousands of employees) and the company will start to become less focused on SharePoint as its primary platform, as reported by Computerworld last week...

 

Continue reading:

http://redmondmag.com/Blogs/The-Schwartz-Report/2013/02/NewsGator-Looks-Beyond-SharePoint.aspx

Two new versions of Wireshark

Two new versions of Wireshark were just released.  Both are security updates:

 

Wireshark 1.8.3:  http://www.wireshark.org/lists/wireshark-announce/201210/msg00000.html

Wireshark 1.6.11:  http://www.wireshark.org/lists/wireshark-announce/201210/msg00001.html

TMG Services Stopping Unexpectedly - Forefront TMG (ISA Server) Product Team Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

TMG Services Stopping Unexpectedly - Forefront TMG (ISA Server) Product Team Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs: TMG Services Stopping Unexpectedly

i have seen this issue occuring at one of my TMG installation.
Hopefully this fix helps. Would like to still know the root cause.

Hands-On Labs - BUILD | September 13 - 16, 2011 | Anaheim Convention Center

This is the next big thing: Metro Style Apps in HTML5 and Windows 8 platform .
Hands-On Labs - BUILD September 13 - 16, 2011 Anaheim Convention Center: Hands-On Labs

Is TMG 2010 blocking google.com for a malware threat ?

Refer this thread.
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/Forefrontedgegeneral/thread/e8eb8300-ecdd-4b23-b6df-f6ac0a67a226

it has to do with the Malware signatures downloaded from MS. This has been fixed as i write this.

Lync Device Advisor

The Lync Device Advisor is ran by Unify Square's UC Adoption Team. Watch video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIb0sRHW5XA&context=C3bec87dADOEgsToPDskIsBvbKVB3gVNJfriBKESj9

More about the Lync Device Advisor:

http://lyncdeviceadvisor.com/about/

Microsoft is celebrating 20 years of Microsoft Certificartion with Free EXAMS offer

Here read more:
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/20yrs20ways.aspx?WT.mc_id=20_MSL_B2L_toLandpage
http://borntolearn.mslearn.net/btl/b/weblog/archive/2012/01/31/celebrating-20-years-of-microsoft-certification.aspx

Very useful side to figure out dial tones for countries around the world

A collegue of mine informed me about http://www.3amsystems.com/wireline/tone-search.htm

Very useful site.

Microsoft's Lync Mobility Deployment Guide updated

Microsoft's Lync Mobility Deployment guide was updated to fix the document's errors.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh690016.aspx

MS11-099: Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer: December 13, 2011

this one fixes the issues with EMC in Exchange 2010 not closing (Article 2624899: You cannot close the EMC window on a computer that has Internet Explorer 9 installed)

Lync gets people talking - Unified Communications Group Team Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

Lync gets people talking - Unified Communications Group Team Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs: Lync gets people talking

Coming Soon: PST Capture Tool - Exchange Team Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

This is truly a valuable tool. I already have clients who have to manage .pst all over the network in PCs belonging to users.

SANS: 20 Critical Security Controls

SANS: 20 Critical Security Controls: "20 Critical Security Controls"