March 2005 - Posts
SALT LAKE CITY – March 23, 2005 – Altiris, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATRS), has signed a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Pedestal Software, a recognized leader in vulnerability management solutions.
Under the terms of the acquisition, Altiris will pay $65.0 million (net) in cash for all outstanding shares of Pedestal and will assume Pedestal options. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions,
is expected to close by the end of March.
Pedestal Software SecurityExpressions™ has been chosen by some of the world’s leading financial service providers, insurance organizations, healthcare providers and government institutions to implement a proactive system security stance. The acquisition expands the Altiris® technology portfolio for security management, and positions Altiris to bridge the gap between security and operations, bringing systems into compliance with established security policies. The acquisition also gives Altiris new entry-point and cross-sell opportunities.
Source: myTechnologyAdvisor.com
The Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) Open Evaluation Program (OEP) lets you evaluate the Release Candidate of WSUS in a non-production environment. This version is not supported and can be used in a test environment only. Download the release candidate by clicking the link below.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/updateservices/evaluation/trial/default.mspx#EFAA
Can't say much more than that at the moment, but there are some exciting changes forthcoming in the Release Candidate for Windows Server Update Services (WSUS). Shall we pronouce that dub-sus? :)
(870652) - Explains that newer SMS 2003 software updates use Update.exe instead of SMSupdate.exe as the Setup program. Provides a link to a white paper for more information.
More and more customers are using MSI as their standard installer technology on Windows. This session will cover some new free tools for SMS 2003 administrators from Macrovision (formerly InstallShield) that will help better repackage and deploy applications, as well as some of the new features of SMS 2003 to better manage MSI content. Visit: http://www.msreadiness.com/eventregister.asp?eid=1675 to register for this web-seminar which will take place on Thursday, March 3rd 2005 at 10am (Pacific time.)
This solution accelerator helps SMS administrators effectively and efficiently deploy software updates for Dell server hardware using Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 and the SMS 2003 Inventory Tool for Dell Updates.
Download Center: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=39747
TechNet: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=39953
TechNet Webcast: How Microsoft IT Microsoft Develops an Operations Manager 2005 Custom Management Pack (Level 200)
Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM Pacific Time
Mark Pohto, IT Senior Technologist, Microsoft
The Microsoft Information Technology (Microsoft IT) group supports internal line of business (LOB) applications. To improve monitoring of these applications and to help reduce downtime, Microsoft develops custom management packs for the LOB applications and deploys them to Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) servers inside Microsoft IT. This session examines the process that Microsoft IT uses and recommends to plan, develop, and deploy custom MOM management packs.
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=42378
TechNet Webcast: Customizing Management Packs for MOM 2005 (Level 200)
Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM Pacific Time
Chris Hallum, Program Manager, Microsoft
Uncover the ease of creating Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 Management Packs, including what makes up a management pack, how management packs have been enhanced in MOM 2005, and how to create your own custom management packs for monitoring custom developed applications. Join us for this webcast where we will walk-through the management pack creation process.
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=42379
Microsoft Identity Integration Server (MIIS) 2003 enables the integration and management of identity information across multiple repositories, systems, and platforms. MIIS 2003 augments Active Directory directory service by providing broad interoperability capabilities including: integration with a wide range of identity repositories, provisioning and synchronizing identity information across multiple stores, and brokering changes to identity information by automatically detecting updates and sharing the changes across systems.
This management pack monitors identity integration scenarios for MIIS 2003. Examples include:
· Management agent errors requiring administrative intervention
· Events indicating service outages
· Alerts indicating configuration issues and connected data source changes
· Verification that all dependant services are running
· Identity integration is performing normally and predictably
· Automation of identity integration does not result in data corruption or loss
· Notification if the password management is denying access to requests
· Notification when account provisioning doesn’t occur correctly
The Microsoft Identity Integration Server 2003 Management Pack for MOM 2000 SP1– English is available at the Microsoft Download Center at: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E93AE230-40F9-4DC5-BA2E-03E2DD63255E&displaylang=en
Learn about Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 architecture and create custom management packs for your .NET-based applications. Visit http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/?url=/library/en-us/dndotnet/html/monappsmom.asp for more information.
The ISA Server Management Pack monitors ISA Server events and alerts. With detailed alert information you can quickly identify and troubleshoot ISA Server issues, minimizing time-to-resolution when problems occur. Collect and analyze performance trends and metrics. Performance information allows you to manage bottlenecks, identify capacity requirements, and proactively manage your ISA Server configuration to resolve issues before problems occur.
The ISA Server Management Pack provides the following:
- View state monitoring to quickly assess the overall availability and health of your ISA Server deployment.
- Monitor alerts identifying ISA Server configuration issues. Check the availability of ISA Server services, and critical dependent services such as Network Load Balancing, Routing and Remote Access, and ADAM.
- Monitor capacity and performance. Monitor performance counters to track trends in ISA Server components such as cache, Web proxy, and Firewall. Thresholds based on performance counters trigger alerts for critical issues.
- Get detailed information for troubleshooting alerts and events.
The Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server Management Pack for Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005 – English is available at the Microsoft Download Center at:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=9AF54BE2-4067-4A0F-885C-D78DFD0DE9E1&displaylang=en
MOM 2005 Workgroup Edition provides event management, proactive monitoring and alerting, and system -and application-specific knowledge to help you reduce costs and improve availability in small targeted Windows Server System-based environments.
Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Workgroup Edition helps you:
- Identify high-priority problems quickly without being an IT infrastructure expert.
- Understand the root causes of infrastructure issues.
- Resolve complex, time-consuming infrastructure and application problems rapidly with expert guidance
The Microsoft MOM 2005 Workgroup Eval – English is available at the Microsoft Download Center at:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=E6B75D68-8CCA-4406-9B95-3054819574AE&displaylang=en
This bundle of flowcharts helps you to troubleshoot Systems Management Server 2003 during the course of your day-to-day tasks.