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From the Editor
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Greetings New TechNet Flash Subscriber,
Ever wonder how your IT systems stack up in
terms of cost, security risk, and operational
agility? Sure you do, but how are you currently
measuring the optimization of your
infrastructure? What models do you use to
analyze the results of your consolidation and
standardization projects, and your operational
best practices? Microsoft and its partners have
developed a framework, the
Infrastructure Optimization Model, that can
be used to benchmark the technical capability
and business value of your IT systems.
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We’ve made it simple. You can use the
Self-Assessment Tool to show where your IT
infrastructure fits into the model in four areas:
identity and access management, desktop life cycle,
security and networking, and disaster recovery. You can
also learn what it takes to move your IT systems to a
standardized infrastructure. Or maybe you’re
interested in
driving down the costs of your desktops.
Infrastructure Optimization serves as a gauge for IT
organizations and provides a logical road map to
progress from reactive to proactive IT service
management.
OK, so now you have a working model, but where do you go
for help on actually achieving the agility,
productivity, and control that you need in order to show
a return on your software investment? If your company is
a volume licensee, you may already have access to the
Microsoft
Software Assurance program, which includes a broad
range of benefits, from deployment planning and staff
training to product support and software upgrades.
And another great set of tools for IT Pros, the
Microsoft System Center Capacity Planner 2006, helps
size and plan deployments of Microsoft Exchange Server
2003 and Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005. Even
better, when you subscribe to
TechNet Plus, you get the tools for free.
And finally, I’d like to flag some newly enhanced
content areas on
TechNet. In particular, there are five enhanced
TechCenters -- Microsoft
Windows Server,
Exchange Server,
SQL Server,
BizTalk Server, and
Commerce Server -- which include all the essential
resources about those offerings.
Making the right software choices and effectively
managing those assets makes us all successful, and our
aim is to arm you with the best tools for doing just
that. So don’t hesitate to let us know how we can
improve those tools.
Thanks for reading.
Mitch Irsfeld
Editor, TechNet Flash
Beta Updates
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System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) version 2 for Windows backup and
recovery delivers continuous data protection for Microsoft application and file
servers to a seamlessly integrated secondary disk and tape solution on the DPM
server. DPM enables rapid and reliable recovery through advanced technology for
enterprises of all sizes.
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Microsoft Forefront Security for SharePoint
helps businesses protect their Microsoft Office
SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint
Services 3.0 from viruses, unwanted files, and
inappropriate content. With a layered,
multiple-scan engine approach, Forefront
Security for SharePoint helps stop the latest
threats before they affect business and users.
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The recent beta release now includes support for
32-bit installations for evaluation with the
Exchange 2007 32-bit beta. Although not
supported in production, the 32-bit environment
provides full product functionality for
evaluation purposes. The beta refresh also
includes support for multinode active and
passive Exchange Single Copy Clusters.
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Top Stories and Featured Content
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Microsoft Office Groove 2007, a new tool in the
2007 Microsoft Office system, enables
collaboration even when team members work for
different organizations, work remotely, or need
to work offline.
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Find out about the non-expiring Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) Blocker Toolkit
available now if your organization prefers to develop its own managed deployment
plan for IE7.
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Have You Seen the New TechCenters?
The TechNet team is working hard to better meet your
needs by providing important content that is relevant to
troubleshooting, support, learning, and more. The new
TechCenter home pages help to do this by surfacing more
content and including supporting information to keep you
informed and up-to-date. Check out the latest updates by
visiting these TechCenters:
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Evaluate the IT services and processes in your organization, identify specific
problems, and get prescriptive follow-up actions.
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...when you subscribe to TechNet Plus. Microsoft
System Center Capacity Planner 2006 helps you
size and plan deployments of Microsoft Exchange
Server 2003 and Microsoft Operations Manager
(MOM) 2005. It provides you with the tools and
guidance to deploy efficiently, while planning
for the future by allowing for "what-if"
analyses.
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Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 Desired Configuration Monitoring
(DCM) 2.0 adds a dramatically improved user interface along with desktop,
64-bit, Microsoft .NET 2.0, and SMS 2003 reporting support. With DCM, you can
monitor configurations in Microsoft Active Directory, Windows Management
Instrumentation, registry, file system, metabase, and Microsoft SQL Server data
sources.
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Avocent Corporation has launched software enabling remote management of Windows
servers from BlackBerry and Windows Mobile 5.0 smart phones.
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Security
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Security Update MS06-055 has been released "out of band" to address a recently
discovered Vector Markup Language vulnerability. Also,
MS06-049 has been re-released.
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Learn how a company can use Microsoft Internet
Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2006
application-layer filtering with the new
authentication and load-balancing features to
help secure access to Exchange Server and
SharePoint Portal Server through Microsoft
Office Outlook Web Access, Outlook RPC over
HTTP, and Exchange ActiveSync.
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Microsoft Forefront Client Security provides unified virus and spyware
protection for business desktops, laptops, and server operating systems. Through
simplified administration and integration with existing infrastructure,
Forefront Client Security helps you protect your business. Learn more about the
product, watch the
video demo, and sign up for the
public beta.
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The Microsoft Forefront line of business
security products provides greater protection
and control through integration with your
existing IT infrastructure and through
simplified deployment, management, and analysis.
Read the white paper to learn more about the
Forefront product line and the benefits of
Forefront security.
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In the face of diverse and ever-evolving
threats, you need multiple layers of defense to
protect your business and stop attacks before
they can compromise your network. Multiple
layers help to decrease the likelihood that any
single threat can hobble your network. Use these
resources to learn about a range of Microsoft
security solutions to help protect your
messaging environment.
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Featured Downloads
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Final release trial versions of both Standard
and Enterprise Edition of Microsoft Internet
Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2006 are
now available in 11 languages. Try out this
integrated security gateway and see how you can
protect your IT environment from Internet-based
threats while providing your users with fast and
secure remote access to applications and data.
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The SMS 2003 operating system deployment feature pack (OSD FP), now with support
for Windows Vista and 64-bit client deployment is now available. The new OSD FP
enables capture of Windows Vista images in the new Windows Vista imaging format,
integrates with Windows User State Migration Tool (USMT 2.6.1 and 3.0), enables
customized deployments, and provides rich reporting on deployment status and
success.
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Microsoft has released a new Antigen Management Pack for MOM that supports the
9.0 versions of Microsoft Antigen for Exchange, Microsoft Antigen for SMTP
Gateways, and Microsoft Antigen Spam Manager. The MOM pack supplies critical
events and alerts on virus, worm, and spam activity to MOM 2005, and also
monitors the health and availability of these products.
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What's New in TechNet Plus Subscription
Exchange Server 2007 Beta 2 Is Now Available
Exchange Server 2007 (previously code-named Exchange
“12”) offers a security-enhanced and reliable enterprise
messaging platform for e-mail and calendaring, while
delivering innovative messaging capabilities. The
Exchange Server 2007 Beta 2 is now available to TechNet
Plus subscribers.
Sign-in to get your product keys and to download
Exchange Server 2007 Beta 2 and other software.
Support and Troubleshooting
How-to Articles
Hotfixes
Knowledge Base Articles
See a selection of
new Knowledge Base articles on the TechNet Web site.
KB articles now feature an Article Translations box in
the right column. You can select a language from the
drop-down list and read the article in the selected
language.
Also available via RSS 
Upcoming Webcasts
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Join this webcast Friday, October 6, 2006, 9:30
AM Pacific Time.
Join us as we explore the advantages of using a
managed process for deploying Windows Vista, and
as we describe some of the tools available to
assist with Windows Vista deployment.
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Join this webcast October 19, 2006, 1:00 PM
Pacific Time.
In this webcast, learn how to use Windows
Deployment Services to install Windows operating
systems on new network computers, without
needing to be physically present at each
computer, and without having to install directly
from CD media. Also check out the list of all
available
Windows Server "Longhorn" webcasts.
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SMB
Webcast Series: Microsoft Assessment and Deployment
Solution for Midsize Businesses (ADS)Join
this webcast October 17, 2006, 8:00 AM Pacific Time.
Wish you had a smart tool to assess your IT environment
before migration and automate time-consuming server
deployments? Sign up for this webcast on and learn more
from Product Manager Baldwin Ng about what ADS can do
for you. Capacity is limited, so e-mail us today at
smbwcast@microsoft.com.
ADS is available for
download.
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Join this webcast Tuesday, October 24, 2006,
9:30 AM Pacific Time.
Learn how Microsoft adopted the many new
features of ISA 2006 to lower costs, improve
user experience, and better secure Web
publishing.
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Join this webcast Tuesday, November 7, 2006,
9:30 AM Pacific Time.
Learn how Microsoft used 64-bit platform for it
Exchange 2007 deployment to improve performance,
optimize mail storage, and improve the
scalability of its messaging infrastructure.
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Join this webcast Thursday, October 26, 2006,
11:00 AM Pacific Time.
The Infrastructure Optimization Model offers
companies a gauge for their IT infrastructures,
helping them plan infrastructure growth and
realize the full value of their IT investments.
See how Microsoft applies the concept of
infrastructure optimization to strategically and
systematically move its capabilities from a
reactive mode to a more mature, proactive
approach.
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Tune in to this ongoing series of webcasts to learn about steps you can take to
grow your IT organization into a more integrated and flexible system. Hear from
subject matter experts as they provide scenario-based solutions for management,
identity and access management, data protection, and client consistency, and
answer your questions about improving your organization’s infrastructure.
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Listen to Microsoft webcast and media content whenever and wherever you want.
You can stream or download these audio podcasts in your favorite podcast
software or mobile device, and quickly and easily access content with RSS feeds.
Microsoft podcasts are free and do not require registration -- just click and
listen.
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On Demand
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Tune in to our series of free on-demand webcasts
and see how by using the integrated tools in
Visual Studio 2005 Team System you can be more
productive throughout the stages of application
development. Access this content the way that
works best for you; complete the registration
process and choose whether you stream or
download the webcast, plus receive a
confirmation e-mail with a link to the Microsoft
Office PowerPoint presentation.
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The next version of Windows Server may still be using its code name, but this
episode helps explain some of the ways it will help you run your systems and
services better.
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In this episode, we speak with Exchange Server
2007 experts to answer your pressing questions.
Starting in October, Microsoft IT and TechNet
Radio are partnering to deliver monthly IT
topics in dynamic, 20-minute dialogs on various
IT topics.
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Virtual Labs
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These labs will walk you through administration in Exchange Server 2007 by
exploring the Exchange Management Console and Shell, enforcing compliance and
retention policies, and you’ll see how mobile devices interact with Exchange
Server 2007. New labs: Exchange Hosted Services.
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Try out all the cool new features of ISA Server 2006 such as Single Sign-On,
Automatic Link Translation, HTTP Compression, and Flood Resiliency. This series
of labs walks you through how ISA Server 2006 can help secure your Exchange and
SharePoint servers, act as your Branch Office Gateway, and secure access to the
Internet from within your company.
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In these labs you’ll be using the combined
collaboration features of SharePoint Server 2007
and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to allow
users in your organization to easily create,
manage, and build their own collaborative Web
sites and make them available throughout the
organization.
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In these labs you’ll test security features of products such as Antigen Server,
ISA Server, Exchange Server, and Windows Server, as well as tools including
Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer and Software Update Services. New labs:
Microsoft Identity Integration Server 6.0 and ISA 2006.
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Received TechNet Flash from a Friend?
The TechNet Flash is full of pointers to in-depth
technical information that we encourage subscribers to
forward to friends and co-workers. If you've received
this issue from someone via e-mail and would like to
receive the free TechNet Flash newsletter
biweekly, all you have to do is
register.
Scripting for IT Pros
Hey, Scripting Guy!
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Volume 8, Issue 20 
October 4, 2006 |
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Tell Us Your IT Interests and Get News to Match
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How Microsoft Does IT
Improving
an IT Self-Help Portal User Experience
Migrating from Microsoft Content Management
Server 2002 to Microsoft Office SharePoint
Server 2007 has enabled Microsoft IT to improve
its self-help support portal, called ITWeb. The
ITWeb site now requires less support effort and
provides more personalized content to users,
improved search features, improved content
creation, and streamlined workflow.
Insight
Workshops from Microsoft IT Showcase
Insight Workshops, delivered by Microsoft
Services and Microsoft IT, provide IT
professionals an opportunity to engage in
peer-to-peer technology sharing in a
multiple-day workshop environment, offering a
unique inside view into Microsoft’s process of
developing, deploying and managing Microsoft
enterprise solutions.
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© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Microsoft, Active Directory, ActiveSync, BizTalk, Forefront,
Internet Explorer, PerformancePoint, SharePoint, Visual
Studio, Windows, Windows Mobile, Windows Server, and Windows
Vista are either registered trademarks or trademarks of
Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other
countries. The names of actual companies and products
mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective
owners.
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