LIDNUG: Scott Guthrie Talks Shop III, Monday 23 Nov 10:30AM PST

Didn’t attend PDC – want to hear what the biggest announcements was straight from The Gu himself?

Well, now you have a chance – The Linked .Net Users Group (LIDNUG) is holding an open Q&A session with Scott Guthrie on Monday the 23rd of November, at 10:30AM PST (UTC-8).

Hell, even if you attended PDC 09 and was right in the middle of things, you know as well as i do that you can’t be everywhere at once and here’s your chance to ask Scott the questions you really wanted to at PDC 09.

To register for this free event, use your LinkedIn account and click here:

• http://events.linkedin.com/LIDNUG-Scott-Guthrie-Talks-Shop/pub/144324
• We will also be taking questions directly from Twitter – just twitter:
• @ScottGu #LidnugLiveQ your question here

Want to keep up with all the other LIDNUG events coming up, including Phil Haack on Dec 14, simply subscribe to our Live calendar here:

• http://bit.ly/lidnughtmlcalendar

Look forward to seeing you there!

Creating an Access database

I’ve blogged a bit about using SQL Server with PowerShell, and using Word and Excel through PowerShell.  I realised that I hadn’t seen much about using Access. Access is part of the Office suite and is present on many desktops. It forms a handy data store for using with PowerShell.

In this series of articles I’ll show how to work with data contained in Access databases using PowerShell.

First job is to create a database.

My function takes three parameters – a file name, a path and switch.  The path is tested and the function aborts if the folder isn’t available.  Likewise if the file already exists in that folder an error is thrown.

If the –aac7 switch is set I want to create an Access 2007 database with an .mdb extension. Otherwise if the extension is .accdb an Access 2007 database is created.  if the extension is .mdb without the –acc7 switch an Access 2002-2003 file is created.  These examples illustrate the choices.

To create database with Access 2002-2003 file format

New-AccessDatabase -name test03.mdb -path c:\test

To create database with Access 2007 file format

New-AccessDatabase -name test07.mdb -path c:\test -acc7

To create database with Access 2007 accdb file format

New-AccessDatabase -name atest07.accdb -path c:\test

I’m using the providers loaded with Office 2010.  The Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0 provider is delivered with Office 2007 SP1 or can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=7554F536-8C28-4598-9B72-EF94E038C891&displaylang=en

Now we’ve created our database the next job is to create some tables.

Update Rollup 1 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2 (KB971534)

Update Rollup 1 for Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2) resolves issues that were found in Exchange Server 2007 SP2 since the software was released. This update rollup is highly recommended for all Exchange Server 2007 SP2 customers.

For a list of changes that are included in this update rollup, see KB971534.

This update rollup does not apply to Exchange Server 2007 Release To Manufacturing (RTM) or Exchange Server 2007 Service Pack 1 (SP1). For a list of update rollups applicable to Exchange Server 2007 RTM or Exchange Server 2007 SP1, refer to the Knowledge Base article KB937052.

Get it here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=de91f994-6263-47ef-89d7-6d344997459d

Technorati : Download, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, RU 1
Del.icio.us : Download, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, RU 1
Zooomr : Download, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, RU 1
Flickr : Download, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, RU 1

Event 9360 - OALGen seen in the event logs

EVENT #	27757
EVENT LOG	Application
EVENT TYPE	Error
OPCODE	Info
SOURCE	MSExchangeSA
CATEGORY	OAL Generator
EVENT ID	9360
COMPUTERNAME	SERVER
DATE / TIME	11/22/2009 5:09:22 AM
MESSAGE	OALGen encountered an error while generating the changes.oab file for version 2 and 3 differential downloads of address list '\Global Address List'. The offline address list has not been updated so clients will not be able to download the current set of changes. Check other logged events to find the cause of this error. If the cause of the problem was intentional or cannot be resolved, OALGen can be forced to post a full offline address list by creating the DWORD registry key 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeSA\Parameters\OAL post full if diff fails' and setting it to 1 on this server. When OALGen next generates the offline address list, clients will perform a full OAB download. After that time, the registry key should be removed to prevent further full downloads. - Default Offline Address List

One of the clean up things in the migrated test server is that message.

Following Eventid.net points me to this:

Error message when a user performs the Send/Receive operation in Outlook:"Unknown error 0x8004011B":
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;922255

Okay but I don't have that key, nor do I have Exchange 2003 anymore.

So let's try this instead:
http://chicagotech.net/netforums/viewtopic.php?t=3476

The events 9340 and 9360 could occur if the Offline Address Book (OAB)'s
parent Legacy Exchange DN container was not updated properly.

I suggest we delete the current OAB and then create a new one to check if
the issue persists. To do this:

=================

1). Start the Exchange Management Console on the Exchange 2007 server

2). Expand Organization Configuration, highlight Mailbox

3). Click the Offline Address Book tab

4). Right click the Offline Address list and choose Remove.

5). Then, refer to the following article to create a new offline address
list

How to Create an Offline Address Book
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/libr ... 24270.aspx

1. Start the Exchange Management Console.

2. In the console tree, expand Organization Configuration, and then click Mailbox.

3. In the action pane, click New Offline Address Book. The New Offline Address Book wizard appears.

• Offline Address Book Generation Server   Click Browse to specify the location where the OAB generation server will be located. The OAB generation server is the Mailbox server on which the OABs are generated.
• Include the Default Global Address List   The OAB is a snapshot of the Active Directory directory service information that is available in the global address list (GAL). Select this check box to include the default GAL in the OAB.
• Include the following address lists   Select this check box to add address lists to or remove address lists from the OAB. Click Add to select one or more address lists to add to the OAB. You can select one or multiple address lists. Click Remove () to remove the selected address list from the OAB. For more information, see How to Create an Address List.

1. Click Next.

• Enable public folder distribution   If this OAB will be distributed from public folders, and the clients are running Outlook 2003 SP1 or earlier, select this check box. 
  

  Note:
  If you select the Enable public folder distribution check box, and your organization does not have any public folder infrastructure, you will receive an error when you complete this wizard. For more information, see Managing Public Folders.

1. Click Next.

2. On the New Offline Address Book page, review your configuration settings. Click New to create the offline address book. Click Back to make configuration changes.

3. On the Completion page, confirm whether the OAB was created successfully. A status of Completed indicates that the wizard completed the task successfully. A status of Failed indicates that the task was not completed. If the task fails, review the summary for an explanation, and then click Back to make any configuration changes. Click Finish to complete the New Offline Address Book wizard
   
   6). After creating the offline address list, right click it and choose
   Update.

4. 
   
   Check if the events 9340 and 9360 are still logged.

KMZ reader

As a little bonus feature on top of the COLLADA reader I added yesterday, I have now also added a KMZ reader. KMZ is the file format used by Google Earth for its objects and basically it is a ZIP file containing the COLLADA file for the object and all the texture used all in one.

Below is a little screenshot of this reader in action. I took this cottage object from the Google Sketchup Warehouse to test if the reader is working fine and as you can see it is.

What if?

Just so you see the visual... two vhd files sitting on an external USB drive.... are powering a copy of the SBS 2008 that I built at the office.  Once you have the "server" in vhds you can just copy and move them around.

This is where a nice bitlocker to go comesin handy as well... as I just walked off with a copy of my entire server in a very portable and easily transportable package.  Now that we have such an easy way to copy around the computers we use, are we thinking about the "what ifs?" that may occur?

Book review: The back of the napkin

This was one of the books I’ve read during my summer vacations. Dan Roam tries to show us how we can use visual thinking to solve problems. I found it interesting and enlightening, though I must confess that I still haven’t tested all of his ideas in my day-to-day work. Overall, I’m giving it 7.5/10.

Einladung und Agenda zum Forefront User Group Treffen am 10. Dezember 2009

Das nächste Treffen der Forefront User Group findet am Donnerstag, 10. Dezember 2009 in Unterschleißheim statt.

Wir werden uns an diesem Abend tiefer mit den Möglichkeiten der ISP Redundanz beschäftigen sowie weiteren kleinen Themen.

Anmeldung und weitere Informationen gibt es hier.

Wie immer freuen wir uns über zahlreiche Anmeldungen. Damit wir besser planen können, meldet euch bitte bis spätestens 6. Dezember an. Bis zu dem Zeitpunkt muss ich die Teilnehmeranzahl für die Snacks und Getränke melden. Danke.

Da das quasi das Weihnachtstreffen ist, haben wir nichts dagegen, wenn ihr entsprechende weihnachtliche Stimmung mitbringt ;-)

Viele Grüße
Dieter

--
Dieter Rauscher
MVP Forefront

SCOM: Anunciado Xian Wings 2010

A Jalasoft, empresa parceira Microsoft conhecida pelos seus ótimos Management Packs que estendem o SCOM na monitoração non-Microsoft, acaba de anunciar no Tech-Ed Berlin 2009 a solução Xian Wings 2010, um produto que possibilita acompanharmos a monitoração feita pelo SCOM através de dispositivos móveis, ou seja, na tela do seu mobile você terá uma versão simplificada da conso0le do SCOM para saber a saúde do seu ambiente aonde quer que você esteja.

Com previsão para lançamento em 25 de janeiro de 2010, a solução é compatível com Blackberry, porém a intenção é estender isso para iPhone, Andronid e é claro Windows Mobile. Para mais informações acesse site da Jalasoft e assista ao vídeo abaixo com Davor Pavisic (CTO da Jalasoft) falando sobre o produto.

Obrigado pela leitura e até a próxima publicação,

Abraços.

Cleber Marques

Microsoft MVP & MCT | Charter Member: SCVMM & MDOP
Projeto MOF Brasil: Simplificando o Gerenciamento de Serviços de TI
Meu Blog | MOF.com.br | CleberMarques.com | CanalSystemCenter.com.br

Lo bello de Twitter: Ejemplo 1

Soy un gran usuario de Twitter. Generalmente, uso TweetDeck como cliente, aunque a veces voy por la interfaz web. Twitter es la implementación de un idea simple (mensajes cortos, podemos seguir a quien querramos que tenga perfil público, nos pueden seguir y dejar de seguir en cualquier momento (noten los cambios de Facebook a tener perfiles públicos, veo que motivados por la facilidad que se da en Twitter)) Todo eso ha cambiado la forma en que interactuamos. En especial, en el ambiente del desarrollo del software, Twitter es un gran complemente (podría ser un reemplazo) a los lectores de feeds. Veamos un ejemplo de lo efectivo que puede ser.

Todo comenzó ayer sábado, con un mensaje de @jfroma, desarrollador de software argentino, como yo, que escribía:

Yo no había leído todos sus mensajes del viernes, así, que curioso sobre ese comentario, fuí y los leí. El mensaje original aludía al patró Model View View Model. Sé que José (@jfroma) ha estado trabajando en ejemplos de data binding en WPF usando modelos recuperados con NHibernate, así que seguí el link que apuntaba al usuario @michaellperry, para leer sus mensajes. Era mi primer contacto con Michael:

Encontré, entre sus mensajes del viernes, esta presentació:

Session Detail: Data binding without INotifyPropertyChanged

preguntando para confirmar a @jfroma:

Ahora, tenía más contexto (una frase que repito muchas veces: con contexto, uno se puede manejar más entre la información que recibe). Con todo esto, descubro los intereses de Michael en su blog (noten cómo Michael usa su estado Twitter a la izquierda):

http://adventuresinsoftware.com/blog

Descubrí la librería de código abierto de la presentación de Michael:

http://updatecontrols.net

Como siempre que encuentro algo interesante, ya sea para mí, o que pienso que puede ser interesante para alguien, comencé a tweetear sobre el tema. Al rato, veo que @jyinglee desde China, también tomó nota, haciendo RT de mi mensaje:

Todo comenzó con un simple mensaje. Este es el poder de Twitter, es“serendipity with help” (descubrimiento accidental con ayuda), con la ayuda de gente interesante que nos sigue y a la que seguimos.

Nos leemos!

Angel “Java” Lopez
http://www.ajlopez.com
http://twitter.com/ajlopez

SCOM: Usando scripts PowerShell

No SCOM temos uma console chamada Operations Manager Command Shell, esta é uma console que trabalha com PowerShell, estendendo a console do Windows com cerca de 80 comando adicionais. Estes comandos servem para realizarmos algumas tarefas administrativas de forma automatizada e em grande escala. Após instalarmos o SCOM incluindo a console Command Shell podemos acessá-la através do menu Iniciar, entre as tarefas mais comuns temos:

Agora, indo um pouco mais além podemos aprender mais ainda sobre PowerShell com os links abaixo.

·         Using the Operations Manager Command Shell

·         Windows PowerShell Quick Reference

·         Windows PowerShell Graphical Help File

Obrigado pela leitura e até a próxima publicação,

Abraços.

Cleber Marques

Microsoft MVP & MCT | Charter Member: SCVMM & MDOP
Projeto MOF Brasil: Simplificando o Gerenciamento de Serviços de TI
Meu Blog | MOF.com.br | CleberMarques.com | CanalSystemCenter.com.br

No excuse anymore

So at the office I've been doing a dry run of the migration and the resulting migrated SBS 2008 is sitting as two vhd files on a HyperV server.  So I went to Office Depot, bought a small usb powered 500 gig drive, turned off the SBS 2008 running in HyperV, copied it to the hard drive.  Brought it home, connected it to the HyperV at home, browsing to the external usb drive locations for the hard drives.  I then booted the box.  Mind you the box at the office has different nics, different hardware but no bsod was seen.  Now think about this.  Next time you need to test patches, think how easy it is to make a copy of that production server and test ahead of time.

So how fast are you?

So tonight I'm taking my sister's "baby laptop", the old Travelmate C110 (a match of what I have) and moving it from an older slower harddrive up to a 7200 rpm drive.

While I can't justify the pricetag of a solid state drive, I can bump up a drive to a faster speed.

http://www.apricorn.com/product_detail.php?type=family&id=41 The Apricorn kit is a very easy way to do it as well.  And then the bonus when you are done is you get a very nice caddy for your old hard drive to be put into and now have a spare external drive.  I picked up to 500 gig external usb powered drives at Office Depot today, and was surprised at some of the slower speeds of drives I saw offered in SATA drives.  5900 RPM was the fastest SATA drives I saw at Office Depot.  Granted this was office depot... not Frys or some other uber computer store, but I wasn't about to get out on the road and fight though the crowds to get to Best Buy which is about the only other major computer store we got in Fresburg (yeah I know, we live in the hood, what can I say).

So what speeds are you putting in your systems? 

Are you picking solid state? 

Sharepoint 2010 - Role Based Security - Still a thing of the future?

In my last post I talked about Visio 2010 and how we are seeing tools which can drive a lot of business value by representing data in intuitive ways through SharePoint. I raised the concern about once you see the data the next question is how does technology empower action. The answer involves several aspects and perhaps the most important one of which is role based security. The question comes down to this, if I want to share information with my boss and co-worker and give them the ability to perform different actions, how is this done using SharePoint?

It appears that the answer today for SharePoint 2010 is that role based security is still a weakness.

This provokes another question. Is it time for Microsoft to create a role based security model which is robust and can be leveraged to empower action oriented interactivity with the data and business process? The answer should be a sound barrier breaking "YES". Here is why.

We now have the pieces of the puzzle coming together to empower business users to not only see the information which is important to them but then take action on that information. Being able to trigger a SharePoint Workflow within the right security context should be a skill that is achievable for the average SharePoint user. Consider this, the SharePoint User is now not only consuming data but also re-purposing it for the use of others. Setting the conditions under which others in the organization might or might not be able to trigger a specific workflow should require skill and knowledge yet still be simple enough that a user could do it without being a developer. To do this from a user's perspective with only a few clicks, one should be able to select anyone who works on my team can do a "follow up call" workflow but only my manager can "approve expenses" workflow. This is role based secuirty and is not present in SharePoint 2010.

And so SharePoint 2010 will lack the deep security model which is required to leverage the full power it offers to users.  The Achilles' Heel of developing a solution will be the need to create your own role based security model to supplement this weakness in SharePoint 2010. There maybe 3rd party products out there that help with this short coming.

Folks on the SharePoint team, please talk to the CRM team about their role based security. Although it is not the whole solution, it would be great to leverage a unified role based security model.

Jeff Loucks
Available Technology

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Visio 2010 - One of Microsoft's Key Strategies - Model based programming for the masses

A few years ago Microsoft started talking about 'Model Based Programming' which would bring software development skills to the masses by making it easier to conceptualize program flows, decision paths and layout key functional areas while intuitively reflecting business processes. Visio 2010 is shining light on this important avant-garde vision. And it is doing it in a manner that seems so intuitive to regular folks that it is hard not to see the value.

Software developers and network admins were not the only users of Visio and as the Visio team looked at the other Personas, one can't help but deduce that the Visio team was among the first to see the power Model based design. In fact, one should have been able to predict that Visio would be the place where model based programming would first surface. I confess I didn't not see it. And so emerges another Microsoft product with ground breaking and important new features.

Still, I wonder if Microsoft understood Visio is the natural tool to put Model based programming in the hands of the masses. Looking around the help files, we can see that Visio can be used to create, import or export a Microsoft SharePoint Workflow,  which is the engine which puts Model based programming into effect.  Is it possible the team put these technologies together without understanding that they are the basis of Model Based programming? I believe, they understood perfectly well.

In fact if you look at the Visio Team blog, they talk about The Visio Graphics Service for SharePoint 2010. I recommend you spend some time on the blog since the Visio team is doing an exceptional job of laying out how this product is putting together a triple play of technologies that is sure to be a winner for business value.

A sample SharePoint / Visio mashup shows a Supply Chain Dashboard with real time data linked to the components of the supply chain.

So, the Visio team has shown how decisions are better informed by the data being represented graphically through SharePoint 2010 using the Visio Graphics Service, but I have yet to see how they have  built in the functionality to empower people to act on that data. This of course would be the ability to launch a workflow through a right click on the diagram which would leverage an underlying security model to empower certain actions based on roles. Too much to ask? Maybe so. Still, for those who know Dynamics CRM offers this type of functionality, seeing information is only half the battle but empowering action is where the battle is won.

As we look toward how the technology will impact business, I believe the impact will be impressive. The tools exist to give businesses tremendous value and once again Microsoft Partners will be essential in helping companies leverage the technology to maximum effect. I look forward to spending more time working with the new version of Visio 2010, and team thanks for a job well done.

 Jeff Loucks
Available Technology

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Why does my CSR need to be 2048 bit length?

Why does my CSR need to be 2048 bit length? - GoDaddy Help Center, Search the GoDaddy Knowledge Base:
http://help.godaddy.com/article/5619

From the "oh now I get it" category.  I kept seeing folks say that they had to rekey their certificates when asking for a new one, and when they did they had to ensure that in the wizard they pulled down the arrow in the key cert generation screen and specifically selected 2048 or higher.

Keep that in mind when you generate that key cert that you may/will need to request one with a higher bit length.

SCVMM: Guia sobre funcionalidades e características

Com o lançamento do System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 algumas novas funcionalidades foram apresentadas como o Live Migration, Maintenance Mode, Quick Storage Migration e muito mais. Agora, em setembro de 2009, tivemos um lançamento de um ótimo documento para alinharmos todos estes assuntos referentes ao SCVMM, se chama SCVMM 2008 R2 Reviewers Guide, confira clicando aqui.

Obrigado pela leitura e até a próxima publicação,

Abraços.

Cleber Marques

Microsoft MVP & MCT | Charter Member: SCVMM & MDOP
Projeto MOF Brasil: Simplificando o Gerenciamento de Serviços de TI
Meu Blog | MOF.com.br | CleberMarques.com | CanalSystemCenter.com.br

SCOM: Service Level Dashboard 2.0

A funcionalidade Service Level Monitoring é uma novidade no SCOM R2, através dela é possível acompanhar os dados de monitoração para controle de SLA, e ainda temos o Service Level Dashboard, um Solution Accelerator que estende esta forma de monitoração. Aproveitando que nesta semana estarei envolvido em um projeto para controle o SLA de duas soluções com o SCOM 2007 R2, resolvi recordar o conteúdo que eu havia desenvolvido na época do Tech-Ed Brasil 2009 e ainda oferecer 3 novos links com vídeos curtos em inglês sobre o tema.

·         Part 1: SLD overview

·         Part 2: How to install SLD

·         Part 3: How to configure SLD

Material que eu desenvolvi:

·         Apostila com passo a passo das demos (36 páginas)

·         Vídeo não narrado com passo a passo das demos (40 minutos)

Obrigado pela leitura e até a próxima publicação,

Abraços.

Cleber Marques

Microsoft MVP & MCT | Charter Member: SCVMM & MDOP
Projeto MOF Brasil: Simplificando o Gerenciamento de Serviços de TI
Meu Blog | MOF.com.br | CleberMarques.com | CanalSystemCenter.com.br

Off-Topic: Guia Mangá de Bancos de Dados

Gosto de fazer comentários fora dos assuntos deste blog, infelizmente não sobra muito tempo para isso, mas aqui vale a pena uma observação.

Quando recebi o anúncio do livro Guia Mangá de Bancos de Dados pensei em qual seria o propósito desta idéias, li os comentários de algumas pessoas no link abaixo, mas não entendi o motivo pelo qual estas pessoas criticaram tanto esta publicação. No início da semana quando divulguei o livro internamente na empresa em que colaboro eu até brinquei falando que no mundo existem Nerds (no melhor sentido da palavra) para tudo, porém parando por aqui, pois acho que mesmo não encaixando assuntos antes relacionados (TI e Mangá) eu veja ao menos muita criatividade aqui. Neste final de semana eu fui até a Livraria Cultura, na Avenida Paulista, aqui em São Paulo, e pude dar uma olhada de perto neste livro e achei muito engraçado até, o autor está de parabéns. Inusitado, não fará de ninguém um DBA, mas será uma boa leitura descontraída, com certeza. Acompanhem clicando aqui.

Obrigado pela leitura e até a próxima publicação,

Abraços.

Cleber Marques

Microsoft MVP & MCT | Charter Member: SCVMM & MDOP
Projeto MOF Brasil: Simplificando o Gerenciamento de Serviços de TI
Meu Blog | MOF.com.br | CleberMarques.com | CanalSystemCenter.com.br

ITIL: Versão 2 será descontinuada até 2011

O Office of Government Commerce (OGC), órgão mantenedor da ITIL, anunciou que a versão 2 dos exames de certificação será descontinuada até o dia 30 de junho de 2011. Mesmo para quem possui a ITILF v3 eu acho muito importante a certificação ITILF v2 no currículo, o conhecimento legado nunca foi tão utilizado no Brasil, e esta ainda é uma forma de validação no mercado. Para quem quiser saber mais detalhes leia o PDF abaixo:

·         OGC official announcement on the withdrawal of ITIL V2

Obrigado pela leitura e até a próxima publicação,

Abraços.

Cleber Marques

Microsoft MVP & MCT | Charter Member: SCVMM & MDOP
Projeto MOF Brasil: Simplificando o Gerenciamento de Serviços de TI
Meu Blog | MOF.com.br | CleberMarques.com | CanalSystemCenter.com.br