Entries tagged with solution accelerator - TechNet Edge

Tools to plan and deploy Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2

David Tesar — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:28:00 GMT

I sat down with Mary Anne Blake, Baldwin Ng, and Melissa Stowe to help you learn how the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 (MDT), Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 4.0 (MAP), and Infrastructure Planning and Design guides (IPD), can help you deploy Windows 7 or Server 2008 R2. With so many tools, which one should you use when? What are some limitations of each tool?

Here's how the interview breaks down:

How IPD guides will help with Win7 / R2 migration
Where IPD guides won’t help
[3:37] What the MAP toolkit can do to help with your migration
[7:48] Requirements to install MAP
[10:29] How the MDT will help with your deployment of Win7 R2 and how the MDT works
[14:53] When you might run into limitations with the MDT
When you should use the SCCM integration option versus the standalone MDT.
[16:08] How many machines to have minimum return of investment to use the MDT?
[17:00] One Tip/Trick for each of the IPD, MAP, and MDT

Resources

TechNet Video: Administration von Gruppenrichtlinien

Ralf M. Schnell — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:26:00 GMT

Für die Administration von Gruppenrichtlinien gibt es einige nützliche Helfer: GPInventory, GPO Accelerator und Starter Group Policy Objects. Damit können Gruppenrichtlinien sehr einfach erstellt und vor allem ihre korrekte Anwendung kontrolliert werden. In diesem Video stellen wir diese Hilfsmittel vor.

Referent:
Ralf M. Schnell
Technical Evangelist, Microsoft Deutschland GmbH
http://blogs.technet.com/ralfschnell

TechNet Video: Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit

Ralf M. Schnell — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:21:00 GMT

Kann ich in meiner Infrastruktur Windows Vista oder Windows 7 ausrollen? Auf welchen Endgeräten könnte Office 2007 laufen? Welches Potential habe ich, um mit Hilfe von Gruppenrichtlinien-Einstellungen Energie zu sparen? Diese und andere Fragen beantwortet das ‚Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit‘. Wir stellen das Toolkit vor und erklären die verschiedenen Berichte, die sich damit erzeugen lassen.

Referent:
Ralf M. Schnell
Technical Evangelist, Microsoft Deutschland GmbH
http://blogs.technet.com/ralfschnell

TechNet Radio: Microsoft Platform Dialog: Virtualization

Eric Ostrowski — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:09:00 GMT

In our new monthly interview series, we talk to the experts both inside and outside of Microsoft about the latest trends impacting IT and the resources and guidance available to help you plan and deploy the latest Microsoft technologies. This month we discuss virtualization with Baldwin Ng, senior product manager for the Solution Accelerators Core Engineering Team. We also feature another installment of our "tip of the week" with Chris Avis.

Vista deployment project using MDT

David Tesar — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 08:01:00 GMT

Ron Kasbohm, director of technology services for Township High School, tells us about their environment, reasons they decided to move from XP to Vista, challenges they encountered, benefits gained, and also a demo of how they deployed Vista using the Microsoft Desktop Toolkit (MDT) utilizing the Light Touch Interface.

Here’s how it breaks down:

[0:35] Initial motivation to roll out Vista

[0:54] Challenges & solutions they had in deploying Vista - Active X controller & "Approved Servers" in Vista Point and Print Security (whitepaper)

[1:54] How often they get UAC prompts

[2:25] Benefits of using Vista now in their environment

[3:24] – How they deployed Vista in their environment
Ron walks through their usage of the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT), including: the desktop deployment workbench, the PXE boot image, and Light Touch interface (LTI).

Visit the Springboard Series for Windows Vista on TechNet for expert advice, open and honest feature articles, technical guidance, links to tools and training, and community resources

Visit the TechNet Desktop Deployment homepage (Includes MDT download & info)

TechNet Radio: Microsoft Deployment Toolkit

Eric Ostrowski — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:24:00 GMT

Learn about the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) with Developers Tim Mintner and Michael Niehaus. Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, a free download, is the fourth generation deployment accelerator from Microsoft and the next version of Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 2007. It is the recommended process and toolset to automate desktop and server deployment. Microsoft Deployment provides detailed guidance and job aids for every organizational role involved with large-scale deployment projects.

MAP tool virtualization demo with Baldwin

David Tesar — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:36:00 GMT

In this Part 3 interview with Baldwin Ng, we cover the virtualization components of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) tool. In the first 5 minutes, he tells us the basics of how the tool works and how it can assist in your plan to virtualize your server and application environment using virtual server 2005 R2, Hyper-V, or Soft Grid. The tool is a compliment to the IPD virtualization guide. After this, Baldwin gives us a demo of the tool and gives us a peek at what's in store for the upcoming version 3.1 and 4.0.

See parts 1 and 2 of the interview with Baldwin.

Windows Server 2008 Security Guide PM interview - Part 2

David Tesar — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 06:59:00 GMT

In part 2 of this interview, we cover:

Reasoning behind why the specific account lockout and password policy settings were chosen in the guide
General tips (using the appendix when you have a problem and check out the Threats and countermeasures guide)
How to the guide helps implement the granular AD auditing capabilities in WS 2008.
Demo of the security solution accelerator

For part 1, click here.
You can download the Windows Server 2008 security guide here.

Windows Server 2008 Security Guide PM interview

David Tesar — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:01:00 GMT

In part 1 of 2 for this interview with the program managers of the security guides Jose Maldonado and Vlad Pigin, and test lead Bora Gaurav we cover a number of topics including:

What the differences are between the 2003 security guide and the new Server 2008 security guide
What are some of the "deal killers" for most people to be able to run in the specialized security limited functionality (SSLF) mode versus the Enterprise Client mode (EC)
Briefly go through the basic steps to implement
- Establish an acceptable security baseline (EC or SSLF)
- Run the GPO accelerator tool to deploy the baseline
- Deploy the server roles (if you haven't already done this)
- Secure the individual roles using SCW / GPO accelerator tool / guide & checklist
How to implement the guide using a different OU structure than mentioned in the guide.

You can download the Windows Server 2008 security guide here.

Solution Accelerators Beta release PM interview - Part 2

David Tesar — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 16:00:00 GMT

In this second and final part of the interview with Baldwin Ng, we dive straight into a demo of the new Beta version of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) solution accelerator. Check out what the console looks like as we walk through a sample discovery and see what some of the reports look like. After this, we talk to Baldwin about what some of the biggest challenges there are with the MAP tool and tips for using or deploying MAP in your environment.

The 1st part to this series can be found here.

Also, don’t miss out on the “Over the Edge” section at the end where Baldwin tells us about his most embarrassing moment and gives his personal book tip.

What would you like to see in the next version of the solution accelerators?

Solution Accelerators Beta release PM interview - Part 1

David Tesar — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:30:00 GMT

With the public Beta release of the "Microsoft Assessment and Planning solution accelerator" (MAP) I decided to sit down with Baldwin Ng, product manager. In this part 1 of 2, we start off light technically doing a brief intro into solution accelerators, where they're applicable, improvements over WVHA, and how they fit into other Microsoft product offerings. Then we dig in deeper with a whiteboard session to give you an idea of how this accelerator works, where the MAP fits into your architecture, and how to implement and scale your deployment.

If you've used or are thinking about using the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment (WVHA) solution accelerator, upgrading to Windows Server 2008, consolidating physical machines into virtual, then this video is definitely for you.

The second part to the series can be found here.