Vlad Mazek – Vladville Blog

From Tonny Soper’s blog:

“As we move into more complex and interdependent applications, it becomes increasingly difficult to track the capabilities of various IT services. Furthermore, it seems that there is no single formula or presentation mechanism to easily roll up the data and demonstrate that IT is in fact meeting the needs of the business and achieving its service level agreement (SLA) targets.

Microsoft IT has become a world-class IT organization, possessing much experience in managing a large enterprise and achieving great success in messaging service delivery. Microsoft IT is diligent in its operations management processes and metrics management. They track key components and derive measurements that truly show how IT services are performing against business needs. They measure service delivery based on IT scorecards and SLAs. These metrics and measures allow them to fine tune services and achieve high availability with the Microsoft® Exchange Server messaging platform. However, since there is no industry standard for measuring services, customers frequently ask, “How does Microsoft do it?” The SLA Scorecard Solution Accelerator for Exchange provides customers with best practices for measuring the service delivery of Exchange.”

The official name of the Beta is Microsoft Solutions for Infrastructure and Management Exchange SLA Scorecard.

Beta 2 of the scorecard is in use by a small group for customers in the Technology Adoption Program under NDA and other formal agreements. The TAP program is closed to new customers for getting official support from Microsoft. However, anyone can download the SLA materials, with BetaPlace registration, which includes signing a EULA. These “open beta” customers only get limited best-effort email support from the product team as time allows, but can still enter bugs and suggestions.

You can download the SLA Scorecard Beta 2 at http://www.beta.microsoft.com with the user name MSIMExchangeSLA (Case sensitive).

The beta includes the following components and features that are compatible with Exchange 2000/2003:

* SLA Reporting Engine – Creates the reports using SQL Reporting Services and renders the reports to the SLA Reporting UI
o SLA Business Logic –
o Exchange 2000/2003 availability metrics for :
o FrontEnd Server Role
o Mailbox Server Role
o Public Folder Server Role
o Gateway and Bridgehead server roles.
o Client Availability (Outlook 2003)

* For Exchange 2000/2003 measures for:
o# of internet messages received
o # of messages filtered by IMF
o # of connections blocked
o # of recipients blocked
o # of senders blocked
o # of Exchange messages delivered
o # of anti-virus attachments removed
o # of anti-virus attachments purged
o % messages filtered by IMF
o Client Performance
* SLA DTS – The DTS package automatically extracts only the information from the MOM DW that is required by the Scorecard which reduces the footprint of the SLA DB thus reducing the time required to calculate and display the reports.

Why?

The scorecard shows more than just service uptime. It roles up availability by Exchange server role for all Exchange servers in the enterprise. It allows you to configure your SLA target metrics and aggregates MOM event and performance data, displaying actual availability vs. SLA target.

In addition, there are about 11 measures that give you a picture of the “workload” the infrastructure is doing. You can use this to help tune performance to more effectively achieve the SLA target. For example, using a version of the scorecard accelerator to monitor outage maintenance, Microsoft IT is able to categorize each particular outage and export the entire outage table to Excel. This helps Service Managers and IT Managers demonstrate that from an end to end perspective an email outage is more than an application outage. By slicing and dicing the outage data in prep for Service Review Meetings they can present where the majority of outages are occurring and focus efforts in those areas as appropriate. This makes a nice tie-in to change/problem management.

More about Exchange SLA Scorecard
Download the SLA Scorecard Beta 2 at http://www.beta.microsoft.com with the user name MSIMExchangeSLA.

No, not the kind of monitoring you are already used to, but monitoring of security lists and sites for known exploits of software you already own. For example, if your security maintenance includes installing patches on the 2nd Tuesday of each month, you’ve now missed at least two critical patches for your infrastructure. The last of which is currently being exploited on Windows 2000 by the in-the-wild Zatob.a worm:

Several AV vendors have begun reporting a new worm which targets the Windows Plug and Play vulnerability addressed by Microsoft Security Bulletin MS05-039. The worm, labeled Zotob.A (F-Secure) and W32.Zotob.A (Symantec), scans for systems listening on TCP port 445 and then attempts to exploit the Windows Plug and Play vulnerability. According to an F-Secure Weblog posting, once the victim is found, the exploit code downloads the main virus file via ftp from the scanning machine, sets up ftp server on the infected machine and starts scanning for more targets. The worm also attempts to connect IRC channel at predefined address. Those of our customers who have not finished applying the latest Microsoft patches are strongly encouraged to do so immediately.

It’s not just the Microsoft bag either. Symantec Veritas BackupExec is also vulnerable, so upgrade that as well. While you’re there, sign up for a newsletter or better yet, RSS feed of security patches and look at it daily. The security situation is grim, I understand. Can you afford to sit on your hands though? Definately not. Get very intimate with your firewall and learn how to proactively lock-out even critical network services in case of a 0-day-exploit. Subscribe to vendors security alerts list.

Now this is one of the things that make us IT Professionals want to laugh and cry at the same time. I personally spent at least a few minutes laughing to the point of shedding a tear and I hope this is just a joke (it’s not btw). From the IE blog:

Hopefully, by now you’ve seen from our posts that there are a lot of new features and work going into IE 7. As part of this update, we’re refreshing our icon and logotype. We considered more radical departures from our current logo, but blue e with the ring is very recognizable and familiar to users, so we elected instead to make more subtle changes.

As you can see, the new e has more modern look, and the edges are a bit darker so the icon stands out better against different backgrounds. We liked the gold ring too since it brings in new energy and helps the icon pop a bit more than the old one.

This icon and text treatment will be used on the versions of IE 7 for Windows XPSP2, Server 2003 SP1, and x64 versions. We’ll have a slightly different look for the Windows Vista version, one that’s more consistent with the icons there. We’re not quite ready with that one yet, but we’ll share it here once we do.

We’re happy with how this turned out; I hope you like the new look too.

As an IT Professional, how refreshing do you find it that the IE7 team is spending resources to touch up their logo? Does the gold ring take away the fact that you’re facing downtime and monthly reboots due to the security exploits in IE? Seriously guys, if you’ve found someone with the time to play with the logo in the midst of all the security issues you need to clear up that departments headcount and move them into R&D.

Its a busy Friday, lots of things to talk about. SBSC is coming to the UK, hackers are already exploiting holes reported in August’s security bulletins released on Tuesday and there is now a solution accelerator for really large deployments. Even if you’ll never deploy XP to 15,000 desktops these documents are very interesting so give them a few minutes.

Hacking
If you have not patched your systems on Tuesday, the Microsoft Internet Explorer holes are already being attacked. This is why it is important to have a good patching system in place or at least turn on Automatic Updates so that your clients and computers can stay up to date without your explicit action. In the world of 0-day security exploits, the fact that it took three days to produce a public exploit is somewhat shocking, but a blessing in disguise. Patch your systems immediately. Believe it or not, people compromise security for fun as our friend Dogbert points out:

Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment Enterprise Edition
Steven Bink is reporting the release of: The Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) follows the best practices of a multinational bank with more than 15,000 employees on five continents using multiple data centers. This solution shows how both Zero Touch and Lite Touch deployments are performed in that organization. Zero Touch contains two components:
* Zero Touch Install (ZTI). The ZTI component makes extensive use of the Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 Operating System Deployment (OSD) Feature Pack to allow customers in large and geographically dispersed organizations to perform new machine setup and machine replacement for users to be migrated to a new machine, without having to touch the target box.
* Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP). The ZTP component allows businesses to move to a managed, self-service provisioning portal that allows delegates to perform common provisioning tasks, such as password resets, e-mail provisioning, and elective application installation. ZTP requires the use of SMS 2003. The Enterprise Edition provides complete guidance for ZTP using Microsoft BizTalk® Server 2004. ZTP provides a base to reliably provision enterprise or hosted commercial services and applications, resulting in reduced administrator intervention during the provisioning phase.

Download it here.

SBSC in the UK
Microsoft Small Business Specialist program that launched in USA at WWPC has been a great success so far and now our UK friends are getting it too. Their program is set to launch on Monday, August 15, 2005 and this site has more information on it: www.sbsbpi.co.uk. This seems to be very similar to US’s Small Business Community Channel so if you’re in the UK and smallbiz its a good time to check these sites out.

More info from Susanne Dansey about SBSBPI web site:
The purpose of the site is to allow proactive Microsoft SBS resellers in the UK to keep in contact when they can’t otherwise meet up and chat. A special section has been dedicated to qualified Small Business Partners to share information and to catch up with the latest developments generated by the pilot reseller team and by Microsoft. The rest of the forum is available as a touch point for everyone.

It has been a little slow over the past few days, not a whole lot of exciting stuff going on. Microsoft won $7 from optinrealbig.com scum. Looks like the new version of GPL will be out soon. Neowin, usually a well respected Microsoft watchdog, managed to turn a grain of salt into a mountain by predicting the end of free Microsoft Antispyware on one line from a OneCare chat. On the more positive note, Tampa Bay SBS UG meeting last night was excellent, Chad Gross delivered a presentation on SharePoint and integrating Infopath into it to create “poor man’s crm”.

As for what you should spend this weeks allowance on?

Schedule the phone on your Windows Mobile device to turn on and off!

Benefits include:
* Save the battery on your device by turning off your phone and Bluetooth at night.
* Save money by preventing your device connecting to the Internet at unwanted times (for example: sending and receiving email).
* Stop unwanted calls in the middle of the night or during meetings.

With its rich, intuitive interface Phone Schedule allows you to select from a number of options, including:
* Turn your phone on and off at a scheduled time for each day of the week.
* Turn your phone off during Pocket Outlook calendar appointments, depending on the type of meeting (Free, Tentative, Busy or Out-of-Office). New in version 2.0!
* Turn your phone off for a specified length of time or until a certain time is reached.
* Include Bluetooth in your schedule.
* Optional audio notifications when phone is turned on and off.
* Automatically PIN unlock your phone when it turns on.
* Program works behind the Windows Mobile password/PIN logon.
* One setting for all days allows for single-click configuration for an entire week.
* Program waits for connected voice calls to be completed before turning the phone off. New in version 2.0!
* Option to automatically blank the screen during an incoming or outgoing phone call. New in version 2.0!
* Easy to use interface.
* Includes built-in HTML help. New in version 2.0!

You can buy it here, $13.

Its that time of the month folks, Microsoft Patchday. Review security alerts below and get to patching. Please test these patches first and if you encounter any issues make sure to attend the Technet webcast tomorrow when you can ask questions and get some help.

On the side note, Juniper routers (and IDS) seem to already protect against the exploits listed below. “Juniper Networks Protects Customers Against New Microsoft Windows Vulnerabilities Disclosed Today.” Way to go Juniper!

Bulletin Summary:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/ms05-Aug.mspx

Critical Bulletins:

Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (896727)
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/ms05-038.mspx

Vulnerability in Plug and Play Could Allow Remote Code Execution and Elevation of Privilege (899588)
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/ms05-039.mspx

Vulnerability in Print Spooler Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution (896423)
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/ms05-043.mspx

Important Bulletins:

Vulnerability in Telephony Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution (893756)
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/ms05-040.mspx

Moderate Bulletins:

Vulnerability in Remote Desktop Protocol Could Allow Denial of Service (899591)
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/ms05-041.mspx

Vulnerabilities in Kerberos Could Allow Denial of Service, Information Disclosure, and Spoofing (899587)
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/ms05-042.mspx

Re-Released Bulletins:

Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Word May Lead to Remote Code Execution (890169)
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/ms05-023.mspx

Vulnerability in Microsoft Agent Could Allow Spoofing (890046)
(890169)
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/ms05-032.mspx

This represents our regularly scheduled monthly bulletin release (second Tuesday of each month). Please note that Microsoft may release bulletins out side of this schedule if we determine the need to do so.

If you have any questions regarding the patch or its implementation after reading the above listed bulletin you should contact Product Support Services in the United States at 1-866-PCSafety (1-866-727-2338). International customers should contact their local subsidiary.

Update:
By the way, the IE patch (896727) cannot be installed because the digital certificate of the path is invalid. Just a heads up for anybody that encounters “file is corrupt” errors while installing that patch.

Today has been a good day for Outlook users. Another incredibly useful tool for those of us that live inside of Outlook.

The Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Calendar Views Add-in makes it easy for you to view your Outlook Calendar appointments through a filter that is based on Outlook labels and categories. For example, you can create a view that shows you only the appointments on your calendar that are labeled Must Attend, or are categorized as Important.

You add filters by using the Calendar Views toolbar, which opens in your Outlook Calendar after you install the add-in.

Note: This add-in is for Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 only.

Ok, I really dig this tool. I’ve taken a little screenshot of the toolbar which seems very clean yet very functional which leads me to believe that Microsoft must have outsourced the development of this addin. The screenshot also shows the view design screens which, as you can tell, are very powerful.

Whats missing from the screenshot (because I don’t want you to see all my appointments) is the bar underneath the actual calendar (and above Open a Shared Calendar..) where you can access all the views with just a single click. Default view is “No view” but you can apply Active Appointments, Events, Annual Events, recurring appointments, as well as the ones you define on your own. Worth the bandwidth!

You can download it here.

Think of Call Assistant as your Out-of-Office autoresponder for your cell phone. How often do you find yourself stuck in an all day meeting where you can’t play with your cell phone? Well, Call Assistant is just what you need in those situations, and its finally released. Here is a look:

Why should you use it?

With a few clicks you can setup your SmartPhone to send back an SMS to the caller informing them of your (un)availability. Instead of waiting for a callback from your voicemail (which may not happen for another day or so) they will immediately get an SMS message from you with the text you selected.

Features

* Send automatically a SMS to Caller
* Use one of up to 7 predefined texts
* Define a Preselection-range, so Call Assistant is only sending SMS to Mobile Networks
* Allow only one SMS per unique Caller or for every call the caller makes
* Get a report of the SMS sent by the application and immediatly call back from there with one click
* German and English language support
* Supports all Smartphone 2003-Devices incl. the new devices with 240×320-Screens!

And its free. Download it here.

Eileen Brown is reporting that the LiveMeeting add-in pack is online. The ability to start a session from an IM is a great new feature I will abuse immediately. The Live Meeting Add-In Pack consists of three distinct add-ins: the Live Meeting Add-in for Outlook, the Office Collaboration Add-in, and the Live Meeting add-in for Instant Messaging, each which offer unique features.

Live Meeting Add-in for Outlook
With the Live Meeting Add-in for Outlook, you can:
* Schedule a Live Meeting from Outlook
* Identify individual meeting participants as attendees or presenters
* Send separate invitations for attendees and for presenters
* Specify default meeting options and override those defaults for specific meetings

Live Meeting Add-in for Office Collaboration
* With the Office Collaboration Add-in, you can start a Meet Now meeting directly from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, or Project. The document appears in an application sharing session.

Live Meeting Add-in for Instant Messaging
* If the recipient also has the Live Meeting Add-in Pack installed, you can start a Live Meeting from Windows Messenger or from MSN Messenger.

Update: Here is a look at it:

Download it here. If you’re one of the folks that needed any kind of support from me lately, you know how much I love this service. It is worth every penny! (well, 37,500 pennies / month / 5 users to be exact, but still worth it nonetheless)

The WMI Code Creator tool generates code that uses WMI to obtain management information or perform management tasks. You can use the tool to learn how to manage computers using WMI scripting and WMI .NET. The tool generates code that runs on the local computer, a remote computer, or a group of remote computers based on your selection from the Target Computer menu on the tool. You can also execute the generated code directly from the tool.

The tool is meant to help IT Professionals quickly create management scripts and to help developers learn WMI scripting and WMI .NET. The tool helps take the complexity out of writing code that uses WMI and helps developers and IT Professionals understand how powerful and useful WMI can be for managing computers.

Using the tool, you can query for management information such as the name and version of an operating system, how much free disk space is on a hard drive, or the state of a service. You can also use the tool to execute a method from a WMI class to perform a management task. For example, you can create code that executes the Create method of the Win32_Process class to create a new process such as Notepad or another executable. The tool also allows you to generate code to receive event notifications using WMI. For example, you can select to receive an event every time a process is started or stopped, or when a computer shuts down.

The tool also allows you to browse through the available WMI namespaces and classes on the local computer to find their descriptions, properties, methods, and qualifiers.

The code that creates the tool is also included in the download. The tool was created using WMI .NET, and the code for the tool can help developers understand how WMI .NET is used to create applications and manage information. Be sure to read the end-user license agreement that is included in the download.

Click here to download.