Private Cloud Services Engagement from Certified Security Solutions

Hi Everyone! In this blog I’d like to take the time to provide an overview of StratusBuilderTM 2013, what it is, what it isn’t, and how it can benefit your company. First, to answer a question we are getting a lot from customers, StratusBuilderTM 2013 is a consulting services engagement, …

Tips from the Field – Preparing for User File and Settings Migration using System Center Configuration Manager 2007

Windows 7 Accelerate with System Center Marketing Campaign 800 Days Until Windows XP End of Support USMT Builder Manual restore of user state from SCCM Additional Information and Resources Hi again everyone!  My name is Jim Jankowski.  I’m the Group Manager for Certified Security Solutions’ Secure Infrastructure Management team.  Last month …

Tips from the Field – Accelerating Windows XP to Windows 7 Migration using System Center Configuration Manager 2007

Windows 7 Accelerate with System Center marketing campaign Why you shouldn’t wait for Windows 8 (hey, that rhymes!) 04/08/2014, is it Y2Kv2? ConfigMgr Client Health Status Reporting and Remediation ConfigMgr Operating System Deployment Collection Variables Additional Information and Resources Hi Everyone!  My name is Jim Jankowski.  I’m the Group Manager …

A PowerShell script to find AD FS 2.0 errors

So one of your users has received an error from AD FS 2.0, and you need to determine what the problem is. Unfortunately, sometimes the error message doesn’t give much of a clue—for example the web page shown below.

Alerting on FIM Group type changes

In this blog, I will describe how to send an email message when a group is changed from static membership to criteria (dynamic) membership. The email notification contains the display and account name of the group, the person making the change, and the previous static group membership.

Alerting on filter changes in FIM dynamic groups

In this blog, I will describe how to send an email message when a dynamic group’s criteria (filter) changes. The email notification contains the display and account name of the group, the person making the change and both the old and new membership criteria filter. Having the previous filter definition can be invaluable if you need to revert back to a previous filter setting.

How to Debug ILM/FIM Extension Code Running Out-of-Process

Most ILM/FIM implementations require some custom code extensions, and debugging these extensions is an important part of the development process. When developing code extensions for ILM and FIM, one of the configurable options is to run your code in a separate process. This is an option for ECMA, MA and …

Making the Case for System Center Virtual Machine Manager

SCVMM with SP1 introduces multiple benefits for managing a virtual environment. Business leaders and product acquisition teams might be looking at this product to help their organizations manage both Hyper-V and ESX platforms. It’s simple to see the ROI by deploying both VMware and Microsoft admins together to manage sometimes sprawling and often heterogeneous environments. This is all done through a platform that’s built on the System Center framework, which is becoming increasingly popular with IT admins, no matter the organization.

But what about the big picture? Business leaders are still asking IT teams for a virtualization strategy, a cloud strategy, or just become more ‘green.’ SCVMM helps to resolve these issues. So an important question for admins to ask is, ‘How will this product steer my virtualization strategy?’

How to View the FEP Collection Membership Queries

The FEP dashboard located on the SCCM console has a wealth of information. It provides FEP admins with a snapshot of the overall health of your FEP deployment and various statistics including recent malware activity, definition status, and even when FEP has been disabled on an endpoint.

The dashboard information is based on a series of FEP collections automatically created when you deploy the FEP server roles. The collections are named based on the purposes they serve. For example, the FEP collection, “Recent Malware Activity,” will display all of the clients that have FEP installed and have reported malware activity in the last 24 hours. The collection membership rules for FEP are complex and since the FEP dashboard relies on this information, the collections are locked and the membership rules cannot be modified. You cannot even view the query from the SCCM console. However, where there is a will, there is a way.

Preparing Existing Antivirus Software for an Forefront Endpoint Protection Deployment

When deploying Forefront Endpoint Protection, making a few simple changes to your existing Antivirus Software before installing FEP can increase the success of your deployment. Below is a list of tasks:

1.) Disable any passwords for your AV software – Symantec, Trend, Etc… all have an option for password protecting the AV client. Common password protection configurations include removing the ability to view the console and uninstall the AV product. Though this feature helps lockdown the client, it can also hinder your AV removal routine.