Aidan Finn, IT Pro

Microsoft Ireland are running a free 2-day technical deep dive event on Windows Server 2012 on April 22-23 in Dublin.  The agenda is below.

Monday22nd April

Tuesday23rd

A large collection of Microsoft speakers appears to be presenting the content.  I’m presenting the 2 highlighted sessions on Hyper-V and storage.

Remember, there are also some regional events that will be discussing the reasons to upgrade to Windows Server 2012 that are starting next week.

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So it seems that the vFanboys are chuckling to themselves today because they saw some bug fixes being released for Windows Server 2012 & Hyper-V.  I hate to burst your vBubble, but it seems that VMware also releases fixes.

For you IT pro wanabees out there, pretty much any decent amount of code is going to have bugs.  You can test all you want, but it’s really only when code gets out into the real world that the product gets truly stressed across scenarios, hardware, drivers, firmwares, and so on.  So, what can we find on the VMware site?  I did a search on ESXi 5.1 and saw this:

So VMware’s developers are human too!  Am I making fun of VMware here?  No.  Am I saying vSphere isn’t fit for usage?  No.  I expect to find bug fixes for heavy duty software.

Am I making fun of the fact that you need to install Java to download these fixes?  You bet your ass I am   Seriously?!?!? You need to use the biggest security vulnerability on the planet to download security and bug fixes from VMware?  Damn!

What about the size of these fixes?  The smallest one is 306.1 MB and the largest is 602.4 MB.  Hmm.  You know how vFanboys love to gufaw about having to install the “bloatware” that is Windows Server to get Hyper-V?  The April update rollup for Windows Server that fixes a long list of things is just 45.4 MB. 

I’m thinking the vFanboys in question need to check their facts first.  You know who you are

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Don’t bother waiting for SP1 before deploying Windows Server 2012.  It’s not coming (to be clear: I haven’t been officially told that or anything else).  It’s looks like Microsoft is switching release cycles from every 3 years to annually.  That makes service packs an impossibility without Microsoft hiring an a lot more developers, testers, and PMs.

What was a service pack?  It was a collection of security and bug fixes.  Security fixes came from the Windows catalog via Windows Update, WSUS, etc.  Bug fixes were normally downloaded manually from the Support site.  A service pack would normally group all these together, maybe add some minor features to avail of recent device enhancements, and be tested by Microsoft as a unit.  This would be a big point release, seen by some as a mark of maturity.

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 actually included some significant new features for virtualization: Dynamic Memory for Hyper-V and RemoteFX for Remote Desktop Services.

Since the release of Windows Server 2012 (and Windows 8) we’ve seen update rollups being released pretty regularly via the Windows Catalog (therefore via Windows Update).  These consist of bug fixes, not security fixes.  The security fixes are still coming down as usual.

To be honest, the earlier update rollups irked a few of us because they listed the KB numbers of the bugs they fixed, but those KB articles weren’t publicly available so we didn’t know what bug fixes we were getting.  But it seems like Microsoft listened to our feedback with the release of the April 2013 Update Rollup and listed/linked/summarised the contained bug fixes.

I’ve lost track of how many of these URs have been deployed since RTM.  It could be 3, maybe 4, possibly 5.  They come via Windows Update so I’m pushing them out with the security updates via WSUS in the lab.

So, if you are waiting for “Service Pack 1” for Windows Server 2012, I’m happy to tell you that we’re at least at Windows Server 2012 “SP3” and maybe even at Windows Server 2012 “SP5”.  Stop delaying and join the rest of us in this decade which we’re already 3 years into.

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Microsoft has released UR2 for System Center 2012 SP1 via Windows Update.  That means you’ll auto download and deploy (pending manual/auto approval on your part) this update via WSUS, etc.  You can also manually download the updates to each product. 

Note that VMM is not included this time around and OpsMgr has quite a few updates.

Please test and then update yours or your customers’ sites to improve the performance and stability of your System Center deployments.  For consultants, this is an opportunity for you do do a little *ahem* sales, and see if there are some further deployments/customisations that you can do for your clients.

App Controller (KB2815569)

• Issue 1: You cannot change the virtual machine network of deployed virtual machines.
• Issue 2: The network connection is set to None after you view the network properties of a deployed virtual.
• Issue 3: You cannot view the virtual networks for a virtual machine.
• Issue 4: When you change the virtual network in App Controller, you receive the following error message:
• Issue 5: You cannot copy VMs that have multiple processors or large amounts of memory from VMM to a Windows Azure.
• Issue 6: App Controller requires Microsoft Silverlight 5 but links to the download page for Silverlight 4.
• Issue 7: An argument null exception may occur if network connectivity is interrupted.

App Controller Setup (KB2823452)

• Issue 1: App Controller cannot be installed if the Microsoft SQL Server database server name starts with a number.
• Issue 2: Setup incorrectly reports that the SQL Server database has insufficient disk space.
• Issue 3: Setup is unsuccessful when it tries to enable Internet Information Services (IIS).

Operations Manager (KB2826664)

• Issue 1: The Web Console performance is very poor when a view is opened for the first time.
• Issue 2: The alert links do not open in the Web Console after Service Pack 1 is applied for Operations Manager.
• Issue 3: The Distributed Applications (DA) health state is incorrect in Diagram View.
• Issue 4: The Details Widget does not display data when it is viewed by using the SharePoint webpart.
• Issue 5: The renaming of the SCOM group in Group View will not work if the user language setting is not "English (United States)."
• Issue 6: An alert description that includes multibyte UTF-8 characters is not displayed correctly in the Alert Properties view.
• Issue 7: The Chinese (Taiwan) Web Console displays a wrong message.
• Issue 8: The APM to IntelliTrace conversion is broken when alerts are generated from dynamic module events
• Issue 9: Connectivity issues to System Center services are fixed.
• Issue 10: High CPU problems are experienced in Operations Manager UI.
• Issue 11: Query processor runs out of internal resources and cannot produce a query plan when you open Dashboard views.
• Issue 12: Path details are missing for "Objects by Performance."

Operations Manager – UNIX and Linux Monitoring (Management Pack Update) (KB2828653)

• Issue 1: The Solaris agent could run out of file descriptors when many multi-version file systems (MVFS) are mounted.
• Issue 2: Logical and physical disks are not discoverable on AIX-based computers when a disk device file is contained in a subdirectory.
• Issue 3: Rules and monitors that were created by using the UNIX/Linux Shell Command templates do not contain some parameters.
• Issue 4: Process monitors that were created by the UNIX/Linux Process Monitoring template cannot save in an existing management.
• Issue 5: The Linux agent cannot install on a CentOS or Oracle Linux host by using FIPS version of OpenSSL 0.9.8.

Service Manager (KB2828618)

• Issue 1: If the number of "Manual Activities" displayed in the Service Manager Portal exceeds a certain limit, page loads may time out.
• Issue 2: Incorrect cleanup of a custom related type causes grooming on the EntityChangeLog table to stall.
• Issue 3: Service requests complete unexpectedly because of a race condition between workflows.
• Issue 4: The console crashes when you double-click a parent incident link on an extended incident class.
• Issue 5: PowerShell tasks that were created by using the authoring tool do not run because of an incorrect reference.
• Issue 6: The Exchange management pack is stuck in a Pending state after management pack synchronization.

Orchestrator (KB2828616)

• Issue 1: The Monitor SNMP Trap activity publishes incorrect values for strings when a Microsoft SNMP Trap Service connection is used.
• Issue 2: Inconsistent results when you use Orchestrator to query an Oracle database.

Data Protection Manager (KB2822782)

• Issue 1: An express full backup job in SC 2012 SP1 may stop responding on a Hyper-V cluster that has 600 or more VMs.
• Issue 2: When a SC 2012 SP1 item level restore operation is performed on a SharePoint the restore is unsuccessful.
• Issue 3: When you open DPM on a computer that is running SC 2012 SP1, the Welcome screen does not indicate the correct version of SP1.
• Issue 4: When you perform a disconnected installation of the DPM 2012 SP1 agent, you receive an error message.
• Issue 5: When you use DPM 2012 SP1 for tape backup, a checksum error may occur when the WriteMBC workflow is run.
• Issue 6: Backups of CSV volumes may be unsuccessful with metadata file corruption in DPM 2012 SP1.
• Issue 7: The DPM console may require more time to open than expected when many client systems are being protected.

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Well over a year ago discussions started with the publisher.  A lot of that was “will this version of Hyper-V actually sell?” which leads to “will there be enough demand for a book on this product?”.  6 months of writing by 4 authors and reviewing by another, plus countless hours of editing.  And after all that work, 600 pages just arrived.

You can get 600 pages of Windows Server 2012 knowledge to own from these outlets:

• Amazon.com
• Amazon.co.uk
• Amazon.de

Yes, I know there are some typos still there – please contact Wiley directly.

Frequently Asked Questions: FAQ.

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Strictly a storage (or storage virtualisation) KB article, but relevant to Hyper-V admins, this post describes when data corruption occurs when you merge Data Deduplication-enabled VHDs in Windows Server 2012.

Symptoms

Assume that you enable Data Deduplication on a virtual hard disk (VHD) on a Windows Server 2012-based computer. The computer crashes while you are merging VHD files. In this situation, data corruption occurs in the VHD files.

To resolve this issue, install the Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 cumulative update 2822241 (available via Windows Update).

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According to Microsoft in a new fast publish article:

If you are using Linux Integration Services in a Linux Virtual Machine running on Hyper-V Server 2008 or Hyper-V Server 2012, you should enable Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller (APIC) support in the Virtual Machine.

This APIC setting is configured in the guest OS.  Some Googling reveals that some are disabling this setting using “noapic”.

APIC support is required for proper functioning of all versions of Linux Integration Services. If APIC support is disabled by specifying "noapic" in the Linux Virtual Machine’s boot options, then the Virtual Machine may fail to boot after installation of Linux Integration Services.

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This isn’t a Hyper-V bug, but it’s one that those using SAN storage should pay attention to … and that often include Hyper-V admins/engineers: "0x000000D1" Stop error when you open the MPIO snap-in on a computer that is running Windows Server 2012.

Symptoms

Consider the following scenario:

• You connect a storage device that is controlled by Microsoft Multipath I/O (MPIO) to a computer that is running Windows Server 2012. 
• You remove all paths to the storage device.
• You open the MPIO snap-in or try to switch to the MPIO tab on the properties window of a disk that is managed by MPIO.

In this scenario, the computer crashes. Additionally, you receive a Stop error message that resembles the following:

STOP: 0x000000D1 (parameter1, parameter2, parameter3, parameter4)

Notes

• This Stop error describes a DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL issue.
• The parameters in this Stop error message vary, depending on the configuration of the computer.
• Not all "Stop 0x000000D1" errors are caused by this issue.

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft.

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This hotfix is for when virtual machines freeze at the "Stopping" state after you shut down the virtual machines in Windows Server 2012.

Symptoms

Consider the following scenario:

• You create some failover cluster nodes on computers that are running Windows Server 2012.
• You have the Hyper-V server role installed on the cluster nodes.
• You create virtual machines on one cluster node, and you configure the virtual machines as cluster resources.
• You enable Quality of Service (QOS) on the virtual machines, and you set the QOS to the minimum allowed value.
• You send lots of network traffic from the virtual machines to another cluster node.
• After the virtual machines run for a while, you shut down the virtual machines.

In this scenario, one or more virtual machines freeze at the "Stopping" state. Therefore, you cannot perform any actions on the virtual machines. For example, you cannot perform a live migration or a backup.

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft

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A lot of posts appeared last night that WS2012 Hyper-V admins might want to pay attention to.  This one deals with a situation where virtual switch extension cannot send packets separately through every individual network adapter in Windows Server 2012.

Symptoms

Consider the following scenario:

• You have a virtual switch extension installed on a Windows Server 2012-based Hyper-V server.
• The extension sends packets that contain one or more of the following flags: 

  NDIS_SEND_FLAGS_SINGLE_QUEUE
  NDIS_SEND_FLAGS_SWITCH_DESTINATION_GROUP
  NDIS_SEND_FLAGS_SWITCH_SINGLE_SOURCE
  NDIS_SEND_COMPLETE_FLAGS_SINGLE_QUEUE
  NDIS_SEND_COMPLETE_FLAGS_SWITCH_SINGLE_SOURCE
  NDIS_RECEIVE_FLAGS_SINGLE_VLAN
  NDIS_RECEIVE_FLAGS_SINGLE_QUEUE
  NDIS_RECEIVE_FLAGS_SINGLE_ETHER_TYPE
  NDIS_RECEIVE_FLAGS_SWITCH_DESTINATION_GROUP
  NDIS_RECEIVE_FLAGS_SWITCH_SINGLE_SOURCE
  NDIS_RETURN_FLAGS_SINGLE_QUEUE
  NDIS_RETURN_FLAGS_SWITCH_SINGLE_SOURCE

In this scenario, the packets are sent by using the same network adapter in the virtual network.

Cause

This issue occurs because Network Driver Interface Specification (NDIS) chains the Net Buffer Lists (NBLs) incorrectly.

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft.

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Good news; the paperback version of the new Hyper-V book is now shipping from Amazon in Europe.  Act fast though; The German store reports this morning that there are just 7 left in stock and the UK store has just 11. The book is also available in Kindle (contact Wiley about other e-versions) and was, of course, already available in the USA store.  I haven’t looked at other regions yet.

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Currently in limited preview, Hyper-V Recovery Manager (a part of Windows Azure Recovery Services) provides orchestration of Hyper-V Replica replicated System Center managed clouds.  The concept is:

• You have a System Center managed cloud in site A.
• You use Hyper-V Recovery Manager to orchestrate replication via Hyper-V Replica to site B
• Hyper-V Recovery Manager is used to coordinate failover.

To participate in the limited preview, you must have a Windows Azure account.  Candidates from the program must be from a small set of countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Netherlands, Finland, Australia, Japan, India, or New Zealand.  Well that rules me out then!

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Over the years, I’ve talked to people who own VMM and I’ve seen a few customer installations.  Way too often I see one of these two things:

• An empty VMM library
• People are not deploying VMs from VM templates

The VMM Library

Adding files to the library is easy: you use Windows Explorer to copy the files into the share.  If you can’t do that, maybe a job in IT isn’t appropriate?  The library in the console refreshes every 1 hour by default.  You can wait, or you can right-click the library and force a refresh.  Now you have a repository of reusable contents.

Personally, that’s where I like to keep the ISOs that I download from Microsoft and others.  Some software doesn’t come as an ISO, so I’ll use some free utility to “burn” and ISO with the installer on it.  You’ll find a nicely populated MSSCVMMLibrary folder in our lab at work, and on my Windows 8 (Client Hyper-V) laptop.

To save space, WS2012 deduplication is enabled on the library volume in the VMM server.

This is also where I keep my VHDs.  But more on that

VM Templates

Microsoft has a different way of thinking about VM Templates than VMware.  From what I am told by VMware customers, every virtual machine template in vSphere consists of a VMDK and some metadata.  It’s the Ghost approach – lots of images.

Microsoft went a more modular route.  A VM Template is made up of:

• A linked VHD/X file: generalised by Sysprep if it’s got a Windows OS
• An OS profile: how do you want to customise the OS deployment in the VHD/X?  This includes computer naming, local admin password, roles/services, etc.
• A hardware profile: how do you want to customise the virtual hardware spec of the VM?  This is the entire set including, processors, memory, disks, network (and VM network connection, etc), and so on.

You can have a single WS2012 VHD/X.  You can create lots of OS profiles.  You can create lots of hardware profiles.  And you can create lots of VM templates.  You link:

• A VHD/X.  A single VHD/X can be reused many times.
• A OS profile: maybe some VM templates will be for basic servers, some will be file servers (with all the storage stuff enabled), some will be web servers (with IIS enabled), and some will be .NET application servers (with .NET Framework enabled).
• A Hardware Profile: How should this type of server be specced?  Maybe SQL Servers should have Startup RAM of 1024 GB and 2 additional VHDX files on the SCSI controller?

The concept here is that you can create lots of VM templates from a single VHD/X file.  That means you have a single, already patched and hotfixed, VHDX file for every kind of VM deployment with that OS.  Single image deployment – it’s the achievable dream in OS deployment … and it’s really easy with VMM if you bother to try.  You can deploy new VMs directly from your VM templates.  Maybe you make no changes in the wizard, but you can also further customise the VMs at this point.

Now deployment is easy.  For example, I need to build a lab for a series of events on WS2012 non-Hyper-V features for the next few weeks.  I could waste a lot of time by deploying lots of VMs, not from templates, patch the suckers, customise hardware, lots of reboots, and enabling features/roles, and lots more reboots.  Or I could be clever, and build a single VM, update the patching, turn it into a template (power it down, right click, Create VM Template), create more custom VM templates from that single VHDX file, and deploy my lab really quickly from that.  Which one do you think I’ll be doing?

Give yourself a couple of hours.  Create a couple of VM templates based on your most common deployments, and you’ll save tonnes of time later on.

BTW, you can’t do self-service without templates, and you can have a cloud (of any type) without self-service.

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I recently did another interview with Nick Martin of SearchServerVirtualization.  This time, the topic was how people can get started with Windows Server Hyper-V.  Topics include:

• What to look at before starting a design/implementation
• Where do people have problems
• What resources will prove useful to beginners – lots of plugs for my community colleagues and some useful Microsoft links

You’ll also find an excerpt from the new Hyper-V book, Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Installation And Configuration Guide:

• Amazon.com
• Amazon.co.uk
• Amazon.de

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Microsoft will end all support for Windows XP on April 8, 2014, which is one year from today.  Right now, it is in what is called extended support, the period during which you can call to get help and download security fixes.  In one year, all bets are off.  You are on your own.  No more support from Microsoft.  No more security fixes.  And logically from that, no more support from anyone else, e.g. antivirus, backup, etc.  Your apps that rely on IE 6.0 are a security risk to your company.

MICROSOFT WILL NOT EXTEND THIS DEADLINE

I’ve emphasized that for those people who get their IT advice from the voices in their heads and the drunk in the corner pub – you know who you are!

I really couldn’t give a flying f**k about excuses so don’t bother posting them.  Harsh?  I don’t think so.  I’m tired of the race to mediocrity in the IT business and would love to see a cleanout when things blow up and people get fired.  This deadline should be no surprise.  Microsoft has emphasised it every time they’ve talked about desktop operating systems since the release of Windows Vista.  You now have 365 days to start replacing your business applications that rely on IE 6.0, dump the 12 year old desktop OS, and join the rest of us in this decade.

I bet the ticking of that clock sounds oppressively loud now?  I bet you are wising you had started planning 2 years ago?  Maybe even 1 year ago?

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I got to wondering when the end of life for support was coming for the free-to-download/use versions of Hyper-V would be.  They are free, and there’s not much reason not to be either on the current or on the most recent edition.

I searched and found:

Of note:

• End of mainstream support for Hyper-V Server 2008 is 14th January, 2014.  That’s 1 year earlier than Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V.
• Even though Hyper-V Server 2008 is still in mainstream support, it’s not supported by VMM 2012 SP1.
• In fact, Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 RTM is also going out of mainstream support on the same date.
• I haven’t a clue when Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 SP1 goes out of mainstream or extended support.  The note on that is … confusing:

Support ends 12 months after the next service pack releases or at the end of the product’s support lifecycle, whichever comes first. For more information, please see the service pack policy at http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/#ServicePackSupport.

I cannot assume that the Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 SP1 end dates are the same as W2008 R2 SP1.  As I’ve noted, the other dates don’t necessarily match up.  I’m asking Microsoft about this and I’ll update if I get an answer.

Before you ask:

• Security updates will continue to the end of extended support
• Mainstream support for Hyper-V is important because you want to get hotfixes (bug fixes) and support for managing it from newer versions of tools.

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I’m getting this question so much still.  I’m going to answer it here (as I did in the book) to make it final.

Hyper-V Replica (HVR) replicates virtual machines from one host/cluster to another/host cluster.  HVR is not physical storage replication.  It doesn’t care if you use iSCSI, SMB 3.0, Fibre Channel, Storage Pools, or SAS.  It doesn’t care if you use a JBOD, a SAN, internal disks or USB.  It doesn’t care if you’re using CSV or simple internal NTFS.  HVR is storage agnostic … it simply does not care what storage you use in the primary or the secondary sites.  The storage in the primary and secondary sites can be completely different.  You just need to be using storage that is supported by Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V (check the HCL).

That’s pretty definitive and there should be no remaining questions on this.

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A friend sent me this link a while back and it’s been my lock screen since.  I’m sure it’ll make a nice lock screen on Windows 8 and newer:

The image is by Abdellah Bouthar from www.windowsblue.com.  I haven’t been able to find the original post where it was posted.  So to be safe, I haven’t linked the image.  It isn’t too find to hard via Bing Images, and it’s plenty big enough more most screens.

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Earlier this week, I woke up on the sidewalk to discover that I had written a blog post called “100% Pure Speculation – Will Windows “Blue” (“8.1”) Upgrade Require A New License?”.  Guess what – I ate a dodgy smelling sausage roll this morning and I think I’m losing my grip on reality.  I’m going to paraphrase Exchange MVP, Tony Redmond, from a recent episode of RunAs Radio: I’m Irish and I have a constitutional right to argue with myself.

There is ample evidence to suggest that Microsoft will in fact charge for new versions of Windows that will go GA later this year.

Consider what has started to happen with “the new Office”.  Microsoft has started the shift to a subscription model under the Office 365 banner for office and consumer products.  They obviously prefer this because they get a predictable stream of revenue every month of every year, rather than a saw tooth purchase pattern when customers buy new versions every 3-10 years.

Microsoft gets some predictability with volume license leasing programs like Enterprise Agreements and Open Value Subscription, but lots of businesses elect for the alternatives such as Select and Open … and then they buy every 3-10 years. 

That can’t suit Microsoft; they have shareholders to keep happy and they can’t continue to invest billions in R&D and product development with customers opting to skip 2 or 3 versions at a time.

If Microsoft is switching to an annual release of Windows, then can they expect people to pay up every year if they want to stay current? 

I can’t imagine businesses being OK with major migrations.  But if the “8.1” and “8.2” releases are minor (like service/feature packs) then maybe deployment wouldn’t be painful.  And lots of volume licensees have Software Assurance to stay current and avail of many other benefits.

Microsoft would hardly be the first to charge for new annual versions.  Apple does it in the desktop space with MacOS.  Each point release costs a small amount of money and it seems to sell well.  This model also allows Apple to only support the last few years of the OS.  That keeps support costs down; another reason to make the change.  But this would have to be gradual because there are previously posted end of life statements going out beyond 2020!

VMware also does this in the server space through their support contract.  Get the support and you’re entitled to upgrades.  That seems to sit well with their customers. 

Oh – Windows Server 2003 R2 and its CALs required a new purchase.  The same was also true with Windows Server 2008 R2 (& CALs) and Windows 7.  And it was also done with ConfigMgr 2007 R2 and ConfigMgr 2007 R3 and their management licenses.

So:

• Microsoft has been trying for years to shift us to subscription licensing via SA with limited success
• Microsoft has already started a new shift to annual & monthly subscriptions with Office
• Competitors already sell business software for PCs and servers with a subscription style renewal or micropayment
• Microsoft has a history of doing this with minor releases for desktop and server before
• That sausage roll may have had hallucinogenic ingredients

So it would not surprise me if Microsoft charged for “Windows Server 2012 R2” and “Windows 8.1”. 

OK, a dragon is asking me if I want to retake the Iron Throne.  It’s time for me to wrap up.

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I attended TechEd for the first time in 2004.  It was a last second freebie from Microsoft.  We had just signed a decent sized Enterprise Agreement, we were bullish on Microsoft software, and they were keen to get us to deploy MOM and SMS.  There was a last minute, no-refunds, cancellation and I was offered the ticket.  I went and I took copious notes, much of which I started testing in the lab and implementing.  In fact, there was more than I could learn by myself.  We really needed SharePoint, SQL, developers, networking, and more people there.

After that first trip, I told my boss (and he agreed) that traditional MSFT courses were useless to me.  I learned lots from TechEd.  And that’s how I wanted to use my annual training allowance.

Oh – I did my first pass on the TechEd North America schedule builder today.  One time slot had 9 sessions that I want to attend!!!!

How would I tackle a conference like MMS or TechEd now as an IT manager with a decent sized team? 

• Firstly, I’d send several people.
• Each person would be given an assignment: e.g. you learn Active Directory, you learn Office365, you learn ConfigMgr, etc.
• I’d set up a single OneNote document for the conference and share it to each attendee
• Each person would record their session notes on their tablets (Windows 8 Enterprise, of course) in their own section in the OneNote document.  They can open new pages for each session.

This way everyone records their notes.  I as a boss have visibility that people aren’t out in the bars when they should be in sessions   And I’d also ensure that the entire team has read rights to the document so they can learn, even if they aren’t at the conference.  That can be supplemented with downloading the sessions to a nice depduped WS2012 file share when they are released on Channel 9

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According to Silicon Republic, the Irish government is to run some cyber war games to test their responses and resilience to digital attacks. 

That’ll be interesting; a few years ago the Irish government decided to implement a very unpopular and ineffective DNS-based copyright (and potentially censoring) system that drew the attention of a certain Guy-Fawkes-mask wearing hacktivist group.  In no time at all the hackers posted admin passwords from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), a group you’d expect to have superior security.  I saw the list, and it was not much better than “Monkey” or “Password1” … actually “Password1” might have been one of them!

Hopefully the results of the tests will result in real changes to practices and design.  I’m sceptical; I reckon tests/results will be moulded to minimise “bad results” and a knock on image.  Plus an admin who uses “Password1” in a so-called-secure environment is the sort who won’t want to change. 

Folks from efficient countries will think I’m being a cynic – people who live in Ireland know exactly what I mean (e-voting machines where the admin password was in the publicly available help button, a 10 year SAP project that exceeds departmental budgets, digital ticketing for public transport that makes us want to use paper stripe cards like most Euro cities, and so on).

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My employers, MicroWarehouse Ltd (a Microsoft Value Added Distributor) are running training on VMM 2012 SP1 in May (Belfast and Dublin).  This is a 2 day course to teach the basics of VMM.  This course is open to anyone.  Places are limited.

Remember that we’re also working with Microsoft Ireland’s Dave Northey to run a roadshow on why you should upgrade to Windows Server 2012 in mid-April.

You can register here.

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For some reason, I’m getting lots of comments from vFanboys that are filled with bile and hatred.  I cannot imagine why!

Maybe these folks are just angry at Obama.  Maybe they’re furious about Beiber-mania.  Maybe they’re upset that their boss just told them that they’re switching to Hyper-V and their little skills fortress is under siege.  I can’t possibly imagine why they want to take it out on me   Why, I’m just a lil’ ol’ blogger stuck on a cabbage patch in the middle of the Atlantic.

I get such a laugh out of seeing these comments in the morning.  They brighten up my day.  Some of the comments are really long.  They’re the sort that a secret service detail would investigate if they were sent to the White House.  Those are the ones I especially love to *ahem* moderate.  I would have made a great heel if I was 6-4 and 250 lbs!

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If you’ve been hiding under a rock lately, then you should know that a new “version” of Windows 8 appears to be on the way.  The program in Microsoft (not the product) is codenamed “Blue”.  There’s leaks, screenshots, speculation, a new Build conference, etc.

I’ve wondered how will this new “version” be released?  Will it be a service pack?  Will it be a feature pack?  Will it be an OS upgrade?  Will it require a new license … and a spend to get from Windows 8 to Windows “8.1”?  Apple does that, albeit with a “micro” payment for the new OS.

I cannot say what Microsoft is going to do; my magic 8 ball is on the fritz.  But I did drink the fluid from inside of it and I’m having visions of the future – someone might need to call an ambulance

Two things hint to me that this will be a free upgrade:

1) Surface and other Windows 8/RT tablets are getting murdered right now.  iPad is the desirable device and Android has everyone beat when money is a factor.  Apple gives OS upgrades away for free.  Android updates (when the manufacturers bother) are free too.  Microsoft cannot afford to hand critics a baseball bat with 6 inch rusty nails driven through it.  They need to make “8.1” free.

2) Customers who have invested in Windows 8 didn’t expect their OS to have a 1 year life as the primary version.  We’ve been conditioned to expect 3 years.  Consumers are one thing; enterprises are something completely different.  Enterprises are still moving to Windows 7.  Those few who might have jumped to Windows 8 will be delighted (that’s sarcasm, Sheldon) to hear that they should fire up MDT and app regression testing every 12 months.  And yes, I am discounting Software Assurance here; the actual test/deployment of an OS is disruptive and costly.  Everything here screams out that “8.1” will be a minor revision (free and released like a feature/service pack, with the usual updated & slipstreamed media), and we’ll have major revisions every 3 years.

Anyway, I think I can hear the sirens now so I’ll wrap up this post.

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This blog post is the property of Aidan Finn (@joe_elway / http://www.aidanfinn.com) and may not be reused in any manner without prior consent of Aidan Finn. You may quote one paragraph from this blog post if you link to the original blog post.