Microsoft Planning to End TechNet Subscription

As has been widely reported, Microsoft recently announced that they were planning to cease the TechNet subscription service with effect from the end of August. This has to be about the daftest thing I’ve seen from Redmond in decades – arguably even worse than Bob, the Kin phone and Vista combined!

The TechNet subscription allowed subscribers to download ISO (or Exe) images of just about all the software Microsoft ships, albeit with some notable gaps like no developer tools (Visual Studio). You also get licenses that allow you to install this software and do long term testing and evaluation. I have used the  subscription for over 15 years (I was one of the very first TechNet subscribers in the UK – although in the early days, there was no software just lots of information that later transferred to the web).

With the TechNet subscription, I get an affordable way to obtain non-crippled software and could install it and use it. I could test things out and learn more about the products and how they interoperate. I know hundreds of others value this ability, which Microsoft has now decided to do away with. The only alternative way of getting this software would be via an MSDN subscription – but MSDN is significantly more expensive and I’ve heard that this cost is going up significantly.

Microsoft is staying that rather than use full use software, we should use evaluation software. That simply doesn’t work since if nothing else there is a much more restrictive time span on the software. Projects lasting a year for example would be scuppered as most evaluation products time out after 6 months.

Frankly, without this sort of low cost source of legitimate and legal software, I’m certain that many will just turn to the black market – it’s about as easy to find boot leg keys as to log onto the TechNet site and get the legal keys! Now let’s be clear – I do not condone pirating of software. But with the removal of a low cost option, piracy, and casual piracy, will only increase. And, for a company that is concerned with what people thing, this move will only make Redmond appear greedy and unhelpful towards the legions of IT Pros that advocate and deploy Microsoft software.

Almost as bad was the cynical way the announcement was made. It was issued at the start of the week of July 4th when a lot of Americans and a lot of management in Redmond, was out on holiday, and the week before the Partner conference. The timing was great – get the bad news out when no one was around to react in Redmond (except with canned statements about how IT Trends and business dynamics have changed’. I can’t help feeling some marketing bod decided to send the announcement like this meant most folks would be away and would not notice till it was too late. Microsoft should know better than to act like this – even the UK’s Labour party found out this approach generates a lot of negativity.

Speaking personally, I mailed Steve Ballmer to complain and have urged others to do so. Frankly, he’s about the only person with the ability to stop the stupidity. A US chap, Cody Skidmore, has created an online petition: https://www.change.org/petitions/continue-technet-or-create-an-affordable-alternative-to-msdn.

If you care about this – and all IT Pros really should, then can you do three things:

1. Email SteveB@Microsoft and ask him to abort the service’s demise.

2. Sign the petition. As of the time this article is being written, the petition has attracted over 5000 signatures and is getting more every minute. Please add your name to this list.

3. Talk to any journalists you know and ask them to talk up the issue and talk up reinstating the subscription.

This is about the dumbest thing I’ve seen from Redmond since Joe Lindstrom tried to kill the MVP programme. I hope the outcome here is the same (we still have MVPs). But please – get involved and act now before it is too late.

Finally: Please Steve, rethink this. Do the right thing and reinstate the programmne. If you need more email to make that decision, just say the word. If email is what it takes, the community can provide that.

Technorati Tags: Bad Microsoft decisions,cynical tining of Microsoft annoucement,End of TechNet Subscription

PowerShell in Windows–A Nice Feature List

The TechNet folks have produced a nice list of PowerShell features offered by Microsoft. This page has a list of all the features offered plus links to information about how to get the individual features. The list looks reasonable complete – and is a good jumping off place for learning more about PowerShell in Windows.

Technorati Tags: PowerShell,TechNet,documentation

Discovery In PowerShell – Get-Help vs. Get-Command

Discovery is process by which a user will learn to use any product. The more discoverable any product is, the easier it is for new users to get started. A disoverable product enables any user both to leverage what they already know and to find more. PowerShell was designed to be, and I believe is, a discoverable product.

One example of this came up this week – looking at how you can find cmdlets (and other stuff) that you can run. By using Get-Help, Get-Command and some where clause foo, you can quickly locate and learn about cmdlets in your environment. And, this help information provides examples to illustrate the use of a particular cmdlet and some products (eg SCVMM) add additional About_* files.

Get-Command and Get-Help are similar but different. They both can be used to find cmdlets and other help information. So while sharing a similar usage, they return different information. Get-Help returns information on 4 categories: Alias, Cmdlet, Provider and HelpFile. Get-Command, on the other hand, returns information of 6 different command types: Alias, Application, Function, Cmdlet, ExternalScript and Filter.

Where this helps is knowing which cmdlet to use to search for what. If you are using pure PowerShell Cmdlets, modules and scripts, Get-Help will be your main discovery tool. But if you are also using console applications from, say earlier versions of SharePoint, then Get-Command will help to find the commands you might need.

The trick to getting the most out of these cmdlets is knowing how to search and the key to that is using wildcards. If you want to find out what cmdlets, etc, are available for a PSSession object,

 

PSH [C:\]: Get-Help *PSSEssion*

Name                              Category  Synopsis
----                              --------  --------
Register-PSSessionConfiguration   Cmdlet    Creates and registers a new session configuration.
Unregister-PSSessionConfiguration Cmdlet    Deletes registered session configurations from the computer.
Get-PSSessionConfiguration        Cmdlet    Gets the registered session configurations on the computer.
Set-PSSessionConfiguration        Cmdlet    Changes the properties of a registered session configuration.
Enable-PSSessionConfiguration     Cmdlet    Enables the session configurations on the local computer.
Disable-PSSessionConfiguration    Cmdlet    Denies access to the session configurations on the local computer.
New-PSSession                     Cmdlet    Creates a persistent connection to a local or remote computer.
Get-PSSession                     Cmdlet    Gets the Windows PowerShell sessions (PSSessions) in the current session.
Remove-PSSession                  Cmdlet    Closes one or more Windows PowerShell sessions (PSSessions).
Enter-PSSession                   Cmdlet    Starts an interactive session with a remote computer.
Exit-PSSession                    Cmdlet    Ends an interactive session with a remote computer.
New-PSSessionOption               Cmdlet    Creates an object that contains advanced options for a PSSession.
Export-PSSession                  Cmdlet    Imports commands from another session and saves them in a Windows PowerS...
Import-PSSession                  Cmdlet    Imports commands from another session into the current session.
about_pssessions                  HelpFile  Describes Windows PowerShell sessions (PSSessions) and explains how to
about_pssession_details           HelpFile  Provides detailed information about Windows PowerShell sessions and the

Or try the following:

PSH [C:\]: get-command *PSSession*

CommandType     Name                                                Definition
-----------     ----                                                ----------
Cmdlet          Disable-PSSessionConfiguration                      Disable-PSSessionConfiguration [[-Name] <String[...
Cmdlet          Enable-PSSessionConfiguration                       Enable-PSSessionConfiguration [[-Name] <String[]...
Cmdlet          Enter-PSSession                                     Enter-PSSession [-ComputerName] <String> [-Crede...
Cmdlet          Exit-PSSession                                      Exit-PSSession [-Verbose] [-Debug] [-ErrorAction...
Cmdlet          Export-PSSession                                    Export-PSSession [-Session] <PSSession> [-Output...
Cmdlet          Get-PSSession                                       Get-PSSession [[-ComputerName] <String[]>] [-Ver...
Cmdlet          Get-PSSessionConfiguration                          Get-PSSessionConfiguration [[-Name] <String[]>] ...
Cmdlet          Import-PSSession                                    Import-PSSession [-Session] <PSSession> [[-Comma...
Cmdlet          New-PSSession                                       New-PSSession [[-ComputerName] <String[]>] [-Cre...
Cmdlet          New-PSSessionOption                                 New-PSSessionOption [-MaximumRedirection <Int32>...
Cmdlet          Register-PSSessionConfiguration                     Register-PSSessionConfiguration [-Name] <String>...
Cmdlet          Remove-PSSession                                    Remove-PSSession [-Id] <Int32[]> [-Verbose] [-De...
Cmdlet          Set-PSSessionConfiguration                          Set-PSSessionConfiguration [-Name] <String> [-Ap...
Cmdlet          Unregister-PSSessionConfiguration                   Unregister-PSSessionConfiguration [-Name] <Strin...

If you are looking for more conceptual information about some feature (typically the noun in the cmdlet name – as here “PSSession”) Get-Help will return the ‘About_’ topics, These help you to learn more about the underlying objects, as well as the help information about specific cmdlets. I personally use Get-Help to remind myself of the cmdlets names and spellings.

And finally – if you are using Get-Help on your local machine, you can usually specify the –online parameter. This opens up a browser window into Technet, pointing to the current documentation. If you look at the online help for Enter-PSSession (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd315384.aspx), you can see this page was updated mid December. The PowerShell writers do a fantastic job of fixing the online versions of the help. And they are working on a way to get these updates to you as fast as possible.

Technorati Tags: PowerShell,discovery,get-help,get-command,TechNet

What Happened To The Post Counts on the MSDN and TechNet Wikis?

I’m a fairly heavy contributor to the MSDN and TechNet Wikis - also known as MSDN and TechNet Community Content. I started posting there pretty much ever since Microsoft setup this feature a couple of years ago. My contribution has included over 10,000 posts (just over 7500 to MSDN and over 2800 to TechNet). I wrote about the MSDN wiki in August.

I do not know if it’s a short term glitch or a more major change – but the post counts have been updated in a significantly downward fashion. TechNet shows just 1297 posts, while on MSDN just 3927) – thus I’ve lost around half my post count. At the time I wrote the august post, I had over 6500 posts credited, but now it’s a LOT lower.

MSDN/TechNet: what’s happened??

Technorati Tags: MSDN,Wiki,Technet Libraray,community content

The MSDN Wiki – a look after nearly 6500 edits

Last summer, I posted a blog article about the MSDN wiki, better known as MSDN Community Content (there’s also an equivalent set of content around IT Pro type information, namely Technet  Community Content. This morning I got a comment on that entry which complained about a) not being able to find stuff and b) that the community content idea had been killed. I posted a response to that comment – the Community content is still alive and kicking. In the past year, I’ve added over 6000 updates, the latest of which was a few minutes ago! I’ve also added around 2500 edits to the TechNet equivalent, or nearly 9000 edits in total – and I’m not even an MVP!

The Community Content represents some really great information – and not a few criticisms where the content (or the product!) is at fault. Sadly, as I noted last year, there is a degree of vandalism on this site, which has grown somewhat over the past year. I am fairly ruthless (although as not up to date as I’d want!) with reviewing new comments and removing what I call “non-content”, as well as duplicate posts which some times get made. I also try to ensure good tags. One trend that has accelerated is for posters to see the MSDN community content as a place to ask questions – a couple of posters including my self, point them to the community forums and the Microsoft newsgroups. I also try to ensure the tags on the each community content are relevant.

As ever in publishing, the MSDN content contains errors – usually minor typos, etc. While these are regatable, given the sheer scale of the MSDN (and TechNet) library, these are probably inevitable. Thanks to the sharp eyes in the community, these are found, and have been tagged “Contentbug”. Microsoft are slowly working through these and updating the content proving that the community review process is working, albeit much slower than I’d like.

All in all, the MSDN and TechNet Community Content  are fantastic resources, and are growing daily. Thanks to the MSDN/Technet content teams for providing the platform and working with the community to improve the content

Technorati Tags: MSDN,MSDN Wiki,Community Content,TechNet,Technet Wiki

Rich Copy – A Must Have Application

A very long time ago, when I was contracting for Microsoft, I got a copy of a cool internal application called Rich Copy – sort of a RoboCopy on steroids. The Internally obtained version of Rich Copy timed out after a while which was a shame.But today, I’ve just read that Rich Copy is available for download from the TechNet site: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/2009.04.utilityspotlight.aspx. This is a very seriously cool app – and it’s free and freely available.

Technorati Tags: Rich Copy,utility,TechNet

PowerShell – Online Virtual Lab

Microsoft TechNet has produced an on-line Virtual Lab on PowerShell.

The lab, which lasts up to 2 hours 50 minutes, covers the following topics:

PowerShell Variables

Branching and Script Blocks

Looping, Functions, and Filters

WMI Scripting

.NET Forms with Windows PowerShell

Visual Basic scripting functionality within PowerShell

PowerShell and Active Directory Domain Services

PowerShell scripting to reset a ADDS user password

Remote management using PowerShell

 

If you are unfamiliar with PowerShell, or if you want to dig a bit deeper into some of these areas, then head on over. It takes a minute or two for the TechNet Virtual Lab to come up, but once it does, you’re presented with a screen like this:

This lab is based on PowerShell 1.0 (although everything in the lab should work fine with PowerShell V2.0).

Technorati tags: PowerShell, virtual lab, TechNet

MSDN/TechNet Sites are back up!

Yesterday, I noted that Microsoft’s TechNet and MSDN Sites were unreachable for me.Today, they seem back up. Not sure what the outage was due to, but they’re live now.

I hate long (eg 1 day or more) outages where there seems to be no warning, or no exlanation. MSDN/TechNet site management needs a Microsoft Operations Framework course in Change Management.

Technorati Tags: MOF,MSF,MSDN,TechNet

ISO Recorder – Working Great on Server 08

Working with CDs and DVDs, especially in a virtual environment often means dealing with ISO images. An ISO is in effect a single file on a system that contains a full file structure as per ISO 9660 (including data and metadata). You can also burn an ISO image to a CD/DVD and then that disk can be use in other systems (e.g. burning an ISO of Windows Server downloaded from TechNet).

Sadly, Windows does not, by default, support burning an ISO image. You can burn a disk that contains one file (the iso image), but that will not work on another system – so it’s not very useful (unless you like creating coasters).

Just over four ago, I first wrote about a really nice free tool called ISO Recorder. Built by Alex Feinman. the ISO Recorder burns an ISO imate to a disk, but also rips a physical disk to an ISO image. Alex has improved the tool over the years, first with a version that worked with the latest version of XP and Server 2003, then with a version for Vista.

Today I downloaded a bunch of ISO files that I needed to burn. But I had no tools on my recently built Workstation, which is running a pimped Server 2008 64 bits (with no built in ISO burning feature). A quick Google brought up the relevant page from which I could obtain the tool (free). A few minutes later, and the 64-bit version was downloaded and has created my first burned ISO on the new box. Neat. It works fine on Server 08 which was a pleasant surprise.

Thanks Alex – this is a very useful tool. ISO Recorder Rocks!

Technorati Tags: ISO,ISO Recorder,Alex Feinman

Global DNS Query Block List in Windows Server 2008

Looking over at the TechNet DNS sub-site, I've been reading a neat document: DNS Server Global Query Block List. The document describes a new feature in WS08's DNS Server: the Global Query Block List.

Some network protocols rely on DNS name resolution  to resolve specific well known host names. Two examples are WPAD and ISATAP. Malicious users could register hosts computers using these names and thus pose as a legitimate server.

Windows uses the web proxy auto-discovery protocol to discover a local web proxy. The client queries DNS for wpad.<domain> where <domain> is the computer's domain name (eg wpad.contoso.com for a computer in the contoso.com domain).

Intra-site Automatic Tunnel Addressing Protocol (ISATAP) is part of the set of protocols used to aid in IPv6 migration. ISATAP tunnels IPv6 traffic in IPv4 packets. The IPv6 traffic comes from an IPv6 network to the ISATAP server for for transmission across IPv4 only networks. Essentially, ISATAP servers encapsulate inbound IPv6 traffic into IPV4 traffic and passes it to another ISATAP server for conversion back to IPv6 and transmission to another IPv6 aware host. ISATAP does not provide for automatic ISATAP router discovery. ISATAP hosts use a potential routers list (PRL) to discover available ISATAP routers, typically  by using DNS to locate a host named isatap on the local domain (eg isatap.contoso.com).

In the case of both these protocols, if a malicious user was to rename their system it could then appear to be a genuine server, to the potential detriment of the user. The result may just be a denial of service, but could be worse. And even if your network doesn't use these protocols, your clients my be trying to use them anyway. In that case, they are vulnerable to the hijacking that DNS dynamic update enables.

The Server Block list prevents such hijacking by refusing to reply to a query. This renders the dynamic update useless. If you subsequently implement either protocol, then just remove the relevant name from the block list. Before doing this, you should manually enter the relevant RRs into DNS, and adjust the ACLs to remove the miscreant's ability to hijack the name.

And of course, you can use this same technique in your own environment, perhaps by protecting a computer called accounting, or manufacturing or something similar.

To configure the DNS query block list, you use DNSCMD as shown here:

PS C:\foo> dnscmd /config /globalqueryblocklist wpad isatap gratefuldeadmusiclibrary

Registry property globalqueryblocklist successfully reset.
Command completed successfully.

To view the current block list, use the /info switch with DNSCMD as shown here:

PS C:\foo> dnscmd /info /globalqueryblocklist

Query result:
String:  wpad
String:  isatap
String:  gratefuldeadmusiclibrary

Command completed successfully.

A neat feature!

Technorati Tags: Windows Server 2008,DNS,Global Query Block List,WPAD,ISATAP

Updated Windows PowerShell Online

Admittedly, the URL http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb978526.aspx does not readily roll off the tongue. So PowerShell users should book mark this page. Microsoft has just updated the TechNet site with the full PowerShell help files. Better yet, these are the latest updates and include fixes, etc. Thanks to superstar June Blender for getting this done.

If the help isn't clear enough for you, use the feedback mechanism to leave a comment. I'm sure these will be actioned as quickly as possible!

Technorati tags: PowerShell Help, TechNet

TechNet Plus Subscription Offer: Great Bargain, Much Cheapness (US only)

While there's not much time left, Microsoft's just posted a pretty cool TechNet Plus Subscription Offer. For a very limited time, you can pick up a 1-year subscription to TechNet Plus for US$279.

Sadly, although I saw this in the UK flash, it looks like this offer is US only. :-( Hey Microsoft - that's poor. I hate that MS send me an offer in email  that I can't actually use. It might be a nice touch, given the crazy exchange rate MS software is sold at here in UK (i.e. nearer 1$=1£, versus $2.05 to the £ that the FEX is offering). But I digress. TechNet Plus is a great product for IT pros, even at the inflated prices in the UK.

Technorati tags: Technet, Microsoft, Technet Plus

OCS 2007 TechNet Forums Are Back!

The TechNet web forums are back up. Microsoft changed the URL to address the forums to reflect that the product had achieved RTM (i.e. dropping the "beta" from the URL). It looks like this happened without changing other links to the forum. Anyway, they're back up!

The content on the OCS forums still says "beta", but the RTM is definitely on-topic. I hope that the eye-candy will be updated soon to reflect RTM. It would be nice if this content was also shared with an NNTP feed.

For OCS users wanting NNTP support, there is one newsgroup (microsoft.public.office.communicator) on MS's NNTP Server news:msnews.microsoft.com. Hopefully a richer set of newsgroups will be forthcoming. I'm sure trying!

Technorati tags: OCS 2007, TechNet, OCS TechNet Forum, OCS NNTP Support, TechNet Forum NNTP

OCS TechNet Forum Down

The TechNet OCS 2007 Beta on-line forum at: http://forums.microsoft.com/Ocs2007publicbeta/default.aspx?SiteID=57 is down. It's been down since Friday morning. The outage has been reported, but not yet fixed.

These forums were about the OCS 2007 beta product (and are, or at least were, still missing any links to NNTP). Now that OCS has hit RTM, there is a need for both forums and newsgroups that support the final RTM, product. These are coming, I'm told by folks at Microsoft, hopefully with full gating between on-line forum(s) and NNTP newsgroups.

When I get more information, or if the site suddenly comes back, I'll post more more information.

[Later - 17:45 Saturday Aug 25 - Evening]

I've seen Tata Moraes comment - sadly I have no idea when this forum will be back up. Plus it's a bank holiday weekend at least here, so everyone's away. You could try posting in the microsoft.public.office.communicator newsgroup, although strictly speaking OCS posts are probably off topic there.

[Still Later - 19:00 Monday Aug 7 - 1900]

The outage continues. This appears to be an error in the change over to RTM support and the forums should be back soon. There will be RTM forums, but don't know yet about newsgroup support.

Technorati tags: OCS Forums, OCS, TechNet, Microsoft

Office Communications Server Forums

Microsoft has setup a series of Office Communications Server 2007 Beta Forums. The forums are part of the TechNet forums and cover the entire OCS 2007 product. If you have questions about OCS, this is a place to ask them.

[LATER] The OCS forums have moved - see my later blog post at: http://tfl09.blogspot.com/2007/08/ocs-2007-technet-forums-are-back.html

Technorati tags: Office Communications Server, OCS 2007, TechNet, Microsoft

Still More on Longhorn B3 Download

Further to earlier posts, Longhorn B3 does appear to be on MSDN. After a reboot of Vista, I was able to finally get to the MSDN download site, to find Longhorn is available (and can be downloaded using the FTM download manager).

Interestingly - the download speeds from MSDN are around 600KBPS vs just under 200 from the TechNet site. And as mentioned earlier, downloading via Technet is a raw download - and mine aborted half way through!

Lonhorn downloaded in under an hour - now that rocks.

Technorati tags: Longhorn Server, Longhorn Beta 3, Technet, MSDN dowload

TechNet Virtual Labs

Summary: Great Idea - shame about the implementation.

I've been testing out the TechNet Virtual Labs for Live Communications Server. The idea is great: you go to a web site, click a few links and you have some "real" machines to lay with. The machines are of course Microsoft VM's, based on Virtual Server. The nice thing is that they're all loaded and pretty much all you need is a web browser to access them.

The principal downside, at least today, is performance. They are VERY slow. It took around 45-seconds just to get Active Directory Users and Computers up and running. The VM seems to go dead - clicking on the VMRC client has no effect for long periods of time (30 sec - 1 min). To just add a user, and install LCS 2005 SE took nearly 35 minutes - most of which was waiting for response from the VM farm.

Another issue is the tools and the ports they require. Unfortunately, there is a combination of Java, Flash, and other tools, some of which require "non-standard" ports to be opened at the firewall.I am working with one client who has issues around opening seemingly random ports.

So while the idea is great, the performance is slow. And you need a fairly open firewall which is increasingly a rarity in today's security conscious world.

[LATER]

To add insult to injury, I attempted to provide feedback. Clicking on the Take The Virtual Labs Satisfaction Survey button produced: Microsoft Events is currently experiencing technical difficulties. Please check back with us later. If you believe you have received this message in error, please contact Microsoft Events Support. :0(

Technorati tags: Microsoft, Live Labs, Virtual Labs, TechNet

Technet PowerShell Scripting Centre

Microsoft's upcoming PowerShell release promises a whole new world for admins. Exchange admins in particular are going to need to know PowerShell in order to administer Exchange 2007.

As part of the Technet site, MS has started developing a Scripting Centre around PowerShell. The 'home page' is at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/hubs, which points off to a Script Repository of sample PowerShell Scripts.

The script repository is a bit thin thus far, but I'm confident that it'll get more and more scripts as time goes by. I'm hoping to add to my own script repository at www.reskit.net.

Great PowerShell Video

The Microsoft TechNet site has a great free video titled Windows PowerShell: Next Generation Command Line Scripting. This video is Jeffrey Snover's TechEd US talk on PowerShell. Jeffrey is both a very good presenter, and the architect of PowerShell - and is definately work listening to.

TechNet Forums for Office 2007 and Vista/Longhorn Open For Business

Have a question about Office 2007, Vista or Longhorn>? Come on down to the TechNet Forums now featuring Office 2007 and Longhorn Forums. Sadly, for true IT Pros - there is no NNTP access yet. But come on over, set a spell and ask away!