Microsoft will be offering the Cram 4 Exam Live Meeting Series event next Monday, March 4th for free. This Exam 4 Cram session will focus on what you need to know to get certified and pass the Windows Server 2008 Networking and Applications Technology Specialist Microsoft Certified Professional exams. The session is led by an expert Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT) that regularly presents on this topic, Bob Reinsch. The presenter will walk you through the objectives that are covered in the exam, give you some general exam taking tips and technology “gotchas” about Windows Server 2008.

Configuration Manager 2007 uses advertisements to distribute programs to clients.Once a package has been created, along with programs to tell client computers what to do with the package, you need to advertise the program that you want the clients to run. Advertising the program makes a program available to a specified collection of clients. To create an advertisement: In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to System Center Configuration Manager / Site Database / Computer Management / Software Distribution.

New offers are coming from Microsoft’s learning team. Those first 1.000 who get certified on any virtualization exam prior to June 30th will receive a TechNet subscription before July 15th of this year. To benefit from this limited offer you need to register at www.prometric.com; and take any of the available exams below: Exam 70-659 - MCTS: Windows Server 2008 R2, Server Virtualization Exam 70-669 - MCTS: Windows Server 2008 R2, Desktop Virtualization Exam 70-652 - MCTS: Windows Server Virtualization, Configuring Exam 70-693 - PRO: Windows Server 2008 R2, Virtualization Administrator For registration and more information visit www.

On our previous post Software deployment with Microsoft Systems Center Configuration Manager 2007 (I) we have shown how to create packages as a initial step for software distribution. Although a package contains the application, files, or information that need to be applied to the client computers, the program is responsible for defining how that application is to be used. As a result, the program must include all appropriate references to script files or command switches.

One of the main features of Microsoft Systems Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2007, is software distribution. Although this functionality has evolved from Active-Directory GPOs software distribution capabilities, SCCM offers a myriad of features that provide a high added value such as deployment reports, possibility of applying the software based on collections of computers that change dynamically, detailed customization, etc.. Today we will see how to create a software deployment package in SCCM as a first step for deployment.

Recently somebody asked me how long it will take to get a file stored on a DFSR share to replicate to its different receiving servers across the world. Well, this basically relies firstly on Active-Directory (AD) latency because Domain Controllers (DC) should be aligned in order to have all DFS information (including DFS replication schedule) prior to pass that information to file servers. Secondly, replication relies on Replication Schedule Type. When schedule is open, replication occurs as files are changed, created, or deleted.

Yes. Sometimes a mandatory profile is needed to overcome certain situations; specially when a bunch of new hired contractors are threatening your systems. In those situations, a good Group Policy Object (GPO) and a Mandatory Profile help you so much to restrict all Windows capabilities and define shortcuts to a couple of non-dangerous applications. Today I will write some lines about the last one; Mandatory Profiles. To cook a mandatory profile you will need:

Back after some time today I’m dealing with re-packaging. As you probably well know installation packages usually are distributed in two major formats; Executable (.exe) and Windows Installer (.msi). If you use Group Policy Objects, SCCM, SMS or other Microsoft based products, Windows Installer packages will probably made your day because are much more flexible than executable installation files. MSI packages can be installed silent easily, you can avoid restarting and can be integrated in most systems for massive deployment.

Back after some holidays I’ve sat on my desk and started dealing with our brand new Microsoft Exchange 2010 (non-SP1 yet) console. I’ve noticed that when you try to create distribution or security groups (I had some pending to create) from Microsoft Exchange 2010 management console with a non mail-enabled account (i.e. my domain admin account) the process fails with the following error. Couldn’t find object “AdminUserAccount”. Please make sure that it was spelled correctly or specify a different object.

We are moving forward with Windows Deployment Services; imagine that you have already captured your image and are deploying your Windows massively, but you need to apply a fix to it because a bug has been recently discovered. As a Systems Administrator you need to maintain the maximum available security levels in your organization and patching with last hotfixes means the 50% of the work. So, today we are going to expose how to install a Microsoft Update Standalone (.