It’s the end of the day. Sighing, you start your daily ritual of closing any programs or tabs on your computer. Finally, you go to shut down your Windows virtual machine on Parallels Desktop—you’ll see the happy little Windows flag again in the morning—when the worst happens: The dreaded Windows updates have struck once again! […]
The post Things You Can Do While Waiting for Windows Updates to Install appeared first on Parallels Blog.
Featured images courtesy of Microsoft. Believe it or not, it’s been 30 years since Microsoft introduced Windows, arguably the most popular operating system in the world. Since its debut in 1985, a lot has changed in the world of the PC—but a lot has also stayed the same. See for yourself by clicking through our […]
The post From Windows 1 to Windows 10 in 30 Years appeared first on Parallels Blog.
Deflate-Gate was the topic of conversation the past few weeks. Now that the Patriots are Super Bowl champs we can put this made-up, fake controversy to bed. What isn’t fake, however, is Windows 2003 support ending. What to do with End of Life approaching is a big topic of conversation now. It’s Migrate-Gate!
Tick…Tick…Tick. Does this sound familiar? Tick…Tick…Tick…Windows 2003 Servers support is ending. Tick…Tick…Tick 6-months to go and now it’s time to tick…tick…talk about what you need to do.
Assuming that you haven’t gotten sucked into Cats on Glass photos, many of you are probably aware that support for Windows 2003 Server ends on July 14th 2015. That’s this year…that’s this July! Oh wow, it’s coming faster than another Expendables movie!
Windows 2003 is so old, it knew Burger King while it was still a prince, yet many are still using it. It’s been a reliable and pretty stable product that may give you fits from time to time, but at the end of the day gets you where you need to go. Another way to look at it is that it’s a 1989 Honda Accord (both took CDs). Now, your mechanic is telling you that you’ve dumped too much time, money and energy into your car, except in this case it’s Microsoft telling (eh…forcing) you to upgrade your server.
Why Upgrade?
The big thing starting on July 14th is that there will be no more updates or patches from Microsoft, which can result in a less secure and less stable infrastructure for your business. So what does it really mean?
• Goodbye Updates – Say adios, au revoir, sayonara and beannacht (Gaelic) to updates for fix bugs, performance issues and security vulnerabilities. 2013 saw the release of 37 critical updates for Windows Server 2003/R2. Past the end of life date, these critical issues will remain unfixed, leaving you open to cybersecurity dangers such as malicious attacks or electronic data loss.
• Maintenance Costs – Running legacy servers is not cheap. Intrusion detection systems and advanced firewalls are required to protect a now vulnerable Windows Server 2003 platform. Also, think about all the increasing cost for maintaining aging hardware.
• No Compliance – So once support ends, you’ll still need to meet industry wide compliance standards. Regulations such as HIPAA and PCI require regulated industries to run on supported platforms. Those rules are tougher than the NFL’s PSI policy.
• Software and Hardware Compatibility Issues – New software and hardware devices are no longer being built to integrate with Windows Server 2003. By staying with Windows 2003, you could run into compatibility issues and may not be able to run new instances of software or communicate with the latest devices.
{Whitepaper: Windows Server 2003 End-of-Life Action Plan}
Before July you’ll have three options:
Three things to consider:
Analyze your environment: Understand the interaction of the servers in the data center environment. Moving one thing can impact another. Map out what is interacting with what and which users are interacting with which applications. Many reasons why Windows 2003 is being used is because of application dependency due to niche and custom applications.
Migration Licensing: Review short-term and long-term costs of licensing. If you are considering an on-prem solution, understand what your licensing options are. Depending on quantity, customer type and physical vs. virtual there are several licensing programs to consider. Also, with licensing, Microsoft provides backwards compatibility, so Windows 2012 doesn’t necessarily have to be installed. If your application is compatible with an older edition like Windows 2008/R2, volume licensing allows you to run older platforms, so it’s important to work with your application provider to see how these applications can be transitioned to another server operating system. If you are looking to move into the cloud, it’s important to know what your workloads look like to size your Azure service appropriately. Lastly, you need to compare on-prem vs. Azure costs. Do you want to purchase and own the SW with volume licensing or do you want to subscribe to using it in the cloud?
Consider professional services: Who tries to make a soufflé without following a recipe? This is a big deal, so why do it alone? There are many pre and post migrations issues to consider so it would be beneficial to speak with experts who know what they are doing. i.e. GreenPages. (Come on it’s our blog so we can include a plug!)
I would highly recommend registering for our upcoming webinar, “How to Approach a Windows Server 2003 Migration: Key Steps for a Better Transition” for more information. The webinar is being hosted by our Practice Manager of Microsoft Technologies, David Barter on February 19th.
If you haven’t had a discussion about Windows 2003, don’t wait until the last minute as 6 months will come faster than you think.
photo credit: www.cbssports.com
By Rob O’Shaughnessy, Director of Software Sales & Renewals
In late November, Microsoft announced that first release customers would have access to Office 365 Video – a YouTube type video service in Microsoft 0365. Previously, video in O365 has pretty much been a load it to OneDrive and/or SharePoint online and “let ‘er rip” service. Customers could use the local video tool of their choice to watch their own videos but were not able to treat it as a viable social media entity like YouTube. For many users, the biggest detriment originally was that there was no organization or even ways to spawn that video online, let alone share or comment on it, so it really was not a great alternative to YouTube. But if I want a Microsoft-centric solution to promote my business within the ever expanding Microsoft Cloud model, then what do I use for a native solution without a ton of development time? Microsoft believes Office 365 Video is the answer.
Below, I answer some common questions around Office 365 Video:
Which Office 365 plans are required to get use this new offering?
Office 365 Video is included in the Office 365 E1, E2, E3 and E4 subscription plans (and the corresponding A2, A3 and A4 plans for Academic customers). To date, this is only for commercial customers and does not apply to SLED or FedGov (yet).
Do you have to incur additional costs for Azure Media Services consumption?
The integrated Azure Media Services usage does not incur additional cost to customer; videos stored in Office 365 will count against SharePoint Online team sites pooled storage. This is a doubled edge sword. Video format is key here, and without an education on what is a good frame rate to upload versus another you can easily run through your space allotted in those team sites.
What Office 365 workloads do I need for Office 365 Video to work?
Office 365 Video requires SharePoint Online. Once Office 365 Video has been rolled out to your users per the license model above, Office 365 Video will be enabled.
When will Office 365 Video be available in my cloud environment?
Customers who have opted into First Release should have seen, or will start to see very soon, Office 365 Video appear. Deployment beyond First Release, to standard deployment tenants, is targeted to complete worldwide by early 2015.
Can I turn off Office 365 Video for my subscription?
Yes. You can disable and enable it from within the SharePoint Online admin center.
Will Office 365 Video be available for the Office 365 Business SKUs (formerly the Small Business plans)?
No
Will Office 365 Video be available for the Office 365 Dedicated plans?
No
Hopefully this helps clarify some of the details around this announcement. If you have any other questions, reach out and I will be more than happy to answer them for you. socialmedia@greenpages.com
By David Barter, Practice Manager, Microsoft Technologies
Looking for some helpful facts about Microsoft Azure? For those out there that may be confused about the Microsoft Azure solutions offered to date, here is the first in a series of posts about the cool new features of the Microsoft premium cloud offering, Azure.
Azure Backup, ok… wait, what? I need to do backup in the cloud? No one told me that!
Yes Virginia, you need to have a backup solution in the cloud. To keep this high level below I attempted to outline what the Azure backup offering really is. There are several protections built into the Azure platform that help customers protect their data as well as options to recover from a failure.
In a normal, on premise scenario, host based hardware and networking failures are protected at the hypervisor level. In Azure you do not see this because control of the hypervisor has been removed. Azure, however, is designed to be highly available meeting and exceeding the posted SLAs associated with the service
Hardware failures of storage are also protected against within Azure. At the lowest end you have Local Redundant storage where they maintain 3 copies of your data within a region. The more common and industry preferred method is Geo-Redundant storage which keeps 3 copies in you’re region and 3 additional copies in another datacenter, somewhere geographically dispersed based on a complex algorithm. The above protections help to insure survivability of your workloads.
Important to note: The copies in the second datacenter are crash consistent copies so it should not be considered a backup of the data but more of a recovery mechanism for a disaster.
Did I hear you just ask about Recovery Services in Azure? Why yes, we have two to talk about today.
Azure Site Recovery – This scenario both orchestrates site recovery as well as provides a destination for virtual machines. Microsoft currently supports Hyper-V to Azure, Hyper-V to Hyper-V or VMware to VMware recovery scenarios with this method.
Azure Backup is a destination for your backups. Microsoft offers traditional agents for Windows Backup and the preferred platform, Microsoft System Center 2012 – Data Protection Manager. Keeping the data in the cloud, Azure holds up to 120 copies of the data and can be restored as needed. At this time the Azure Windows backup version only protects files. It will not do Full System or Bare Metal backups of Azure VMs.
As of this blog post to get a traditional full system backup there is a recommend two-step process where you use Windows Backup which can capture a System State backup and the enable Azure Backup to capture this into your Azure Backup Vault.
There are 2 other methods that exist but currently the jury is out on the validity of these offerings. They are VM Capture and Blob Snapshot.
As I said these are options but considered by many too immature at this time and respectfully not widely adopted. Hopefully, this provides some clarity around Azure and as with all things Microsoft Cloud related, Microsoft issues new features almost daily now. Check back again for more updates on what Azure can do for your organization!
By David Barter, Practice Manager, Microsoft Technologies
Advancement of IT technology brings many development options for the developers. And thus allows a wide range of software development services for IT companies which proves to be a perfect platform for the development purpose which also provides great result for the developers. For this purpose, it is one of the ideal solutions for the developer, but before we discuss this, we’d like to give you a brief introduction on BizTalk.
What is BizTalk?
In simple terms, it is a highly effective development platform. It is a hosting server used to help to manage various techniques managing on different systems return smooth interaction. Its multi-platform plugs are personalized to link with techniques or programs in business. It is generally known for its program incorporation features as it’s very simple but very useful. It able to provides complete solution for developing programs and techniques as well as assisting linked techniques.
What is great about BizTalk?
One good thing about this sever, that it comes up with something new with every new versions. And that is what Microsoft done with their recent update of BizTalk 2013. With every new version it scales up and out and is designed to meet the needs of even the most demanding enterprises, but it work well equally well with both large and medium-sized organizations.
How any organization takes the advantages of BizTalk?
This software helps many companies to integrate and develop business processes, applications and services across the enterprise. It is possible to prepare workflow application applications to automate business processes across the enterprise, and to exchange information with line of different business systems.
BizTalk, with SQL and Visual Studio, provides any organization proper foundation of a powerful, flexible and easily accessible universal messaging center that allows data management and transfer from unequal systems and databases under well-defined rules. It also has several free adaptors that allow for direct data links with the most of the popular database. However, it is currently available with ERP, EDI and some finance systems.
What this software can do for your organization?
That is very important question, but expert developers frequently work with a variety of developing options by using transformation maps, Implementing Maps and any many other options for organization. Today big IT development companies run on varied different platforms that enable employees of one company to communicate with each another very easily. Thus with help of professional developers the performance of entire enterprise increased significantly.
This server delivered fascinating solutions to customers. Professional software developers clearly understand the value of interaction between various levels in the same organization. And that is why perhaps the demand for Biztalk development companies has increased significantly and with the latest version It allows more option for the developers, so chances are bright that it is becomes even more popular in nearest future.
Summary:
BizTalk is one of the newer software for the developer Biztalk is highly effective development platform. It is Microsoft developed hosting server used to help to manage various techniques managing on different systems return smooth interaction. Its multi-platform plugs are personalized to link with techniques or programs in business. To know more about BizTalk Development, please visit Tatvasoft
Amazon Web Services has entered the applications end of the cloud world with several recent releases:
Logs for Cloudwatch works with the AWS CloudWatch network monitoring console to collect log file activities which can then be stored and analyzed in AWS Kinesis. The new tool automatically moves logs from instances and aggregates them into a central service where exceptions can be set directly on those applications.
Third-party products already that, and companies like Splunk, Logentries, and New Relic , which launched its new Insights real-time analytics tool just hours before the AWS news, will all be watching this very carefully (probably also very nervously).
The new AWS Zocalo collaboration/file-sharing plans are further proof that Amazon knows it must be a broad platform player to compete against two mega platform rivals – Google and Microsoft, as well as two younger, well-funded but more limited contenders in Dropbox and Box. Zocalo thus targets Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive, which are part of a much bigger portfolio of end-user products at those companies.
By Kevin Hall, Managing Director
Deciding when and how to migrate to SharePoint 2013 is not a small decision. If you’re on an earlier version than SharePoint 2010, Microsoft doesn’t offer an officially supported method for upgrading directly to 2013. Even if you are operating on 2010, upgrading the platform that so much of your business depends on creates risks and costs that must be offset by measurable business benefits.
There are already a significant amount of resources available around the benefits of migrating to 2013. At GreenPages, we have helped many organizations with SharePoint projects. This post will cover some real world examples of organizations migrating that we’ve experienced that highlight some of the key benefits.
One client, a high-tech medical device supplier, has built its reputation on ease of use and modern mobile technology. With earlier versions of SharePoint, the client struggled to reinforce its brand promise and promote its high-tech, mobile culture among its employees on the corporate intranet. After they migrated to SharePoint 2013, the organization was able to take advantage of the improved design flexibility and standards compliance of the platform to create an intranet that truly reflected their brand and values. The site not only looks great on 2013, but it also uses responsive web design to allow access on any device.
In the financial services industry, protecting sensitive client information is mission critical. Due to information security and compliance goals, a large financial services and analytics client decided to replace internal file shares with SharePoint. While SharePoint immediately helped better protect information, it was not until the migration to 2013 that this client started to see day-to-day business value from SharePoint. With the combination of cross-site publishing and the integration of FAST search, 2013 allowed for a single repository of documents to be indexed and securely shared with multiple intranet and extranet sites, all still governed by SharePoint security. Additionally, the built in predictive search capabilities available in 2013 greatly reduced the amount of time employees and partners spent searching for documents and information.
We talk with a lot of clients about Microsoft and whether or not the industry has surpassed it from an innovation standpoint. Often times, a platform switch is under consideration as an alternative to migration. One of our clients, a hip technology firm, had some specific goals which seemed out of reach with Microsoft in general, and SharePoint specifically. In some respects, they had bought into the hype about the industry surpassing Microsoft and went with a competitive solution. GreenPages is now helping this client migrate back to Microsoft and SharePoint 2013 because our client found the product they went with couldn’t scale like SharePoint, required arcane technical skills to manage, and was difficult to brand and build a great user experience on. With 2013’s improvements to design and search, as well as the stability of SharePoint as a platform, the client is excited to get back to the “old way” of doing things.
As I mentioned, sometimes the complexity of a potential migration opens up a bigger conversation about Microsoft and potentially shifting to a competing technology. Depending on your specific needs, leaving SharePoint may make sense. However, make sure you do not act too hastily. Microsoft as a company is doing quite well, and SharePoint 2013, along with Office 365, lies at the core of where Microsoft is heading and is enjoying tremendous success.
There is real business value to be gained from taking on a SharePoint 2013 migration. By migrating, you will ensure that your business is taking advantage of the improvements that Microsoft has made to the platform, and you will be well positioned to make a smooth transition once Microsoft makes the next version available.
Click here if you’re interested in learning more about the unique business benefits SharePoint 2013 can provide your organization.
Do you have any experience with SharePoint? What’s your opinion? Leave a comment below!
Cloud services and cloud platforms are now an undeniable part of the IT landscape. Forrester research indicates the shift has begun from exploration of cloud as a potential option, to rationalization of cloud services within the overall IT portfolio.
Cloud platforms, most notably Amazon Web Services, were only collectively $4.7 billion last year but are maturing quickly thanks to stronger recent solutions from traditional IT partners IBM, HP and Microsoft. The growth in use, maturity, and financial viability of public cloud platforms are proving their longstanding value as legitimate deployment options for enterprise applications. While not a one-for-one replacement for on-premise, hosting, or colocation, cloud platforms fit well as ideal deployment options for elastic and transient workloads built in modern application architectures.
For applications and services built in an agile mode with modern architectures, discrete cloud services, such as database, storage, integration and other standalone cloud middleware components, will empower developers by freeing them from the management and maintenance of these components and reduce overall deployment footprint and cost. They are also managed and enhanced by vendors as often as daily delivering new capabilities that can help a company maintain pace with the changing desires of an empowered customer base
As the largest clouds continue to invest in efficiencies that can only be achieved at their massive scales, the gulf between the cost efficiencies that can be had from the cloud and what is possible on-premise or through other outsourcing and hosting options will widen dramatically.
How Forrester came to these conclusions.
By Rob O’Shaughnessy, Software Licensing Specialist, Pre-Sales Technical Support
I’ve been working in the GreenPages licensing department for over 14 years and many readers are probably asking the question, “why?” Do you honestly like torturing yourself, Rob? No, not really. I did have a full head of hair when I first started here and with each license change it recedes, so at least I’m saving on shampoo costs. Let’s face it, there are so many rules and regulations with licensing that it’s nearly impossible to keep up with. Just when you think you understand, it changes.
We’ve been seeing an increase with our customers getting emails with the subject line: Microsoft Software Asset Management Review. Have you received this email? If you haven’t yet, there’s a good chance you may see one float in your inbox. This is Microsoft’s asset management team. Their goal is to help you understand the licensing you currently own and match it up with what you’re running on your network. Basically, this is an audit.
Microsoft’s SAM doesn’t discriminate—everyone is a target. You’ll eventually have to deal with them so my recommendation is to not ignore the email. Now, just because you receive an email doesn’t necessarily mean you’re not compliant. Even if you’re 100% sure you’re compliant, it’s still best to work with them. I can tell you that if their findings suggest that you’re short on licenses, the only real penalty is that you have to buy the licenses. There are no fines, you’re not going to jail…this isn’t the Orange is the New Black.
I suggest that if you do receive this email that you reach out to us here at GreenPages. Like I said, I’ve been doing this a long time and there are some particulars of licensing that IMO the SAM team doesn’t know, especially when it comes to virtualization. Just a quick example: you may have 20 Windows Standard 2008 R2 VMs but only own five licenses. Are you in compliance? Yes. If you own Windows Enterprise 2008 R2 it allowed you to run up to 4 VMs with each license. In this example the SAM team didn’t know the old rule when Windows 2008 R2 was around. I mean, let’s face it, Microsoft licensing is confusing and the SAM team is human, so it’s always good to get a second set of eyes on it.
This post’s goal is not to scare you and indict you of any wrong doing. It’s to inform you. If you do see this email I wouldn’t ignore it as much as you may be tempted to. Hopefully it’s a quick and painless process for you, but regardless please let us know how we can assist. If you already have worked with the SAM team, we’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences!
Here are some FAQs I get from our customers:
Do I need a Windows Cal and RDS Cal? Yes, Microsoft requires you to stack the CALs. Same is true if you’re running Exchange, SharePoint, Lync etc. Both the Windows and the specific application Cal is required.
What’s up with SQL Core licensing? SQL moved from a per processor licensing model (when you got unlimited Cals) to per Core model when SQL 2012 was released. So, the deal is, if SQL is running on a physical sever, you have to tally up all the cores on that box. If SQL is running virtually you have to license all the cores allocated to the VM. A minimum of four cores are required for each scenario. This means that in a physical environment, even if the processor only has 2-cores, you’re still required to license four. Same in the virtual world. If you plan on only allocating 2 cores to the VM, Microsoft requires that you pay for 4-cores worth. The reason is the price of the former per processor license is the same as the price of 4 cores today. Licenses are sold in two-core packs. SQL Enterprise is now only licensed by the core.
What is multiplexing? This mainly pertains to SQL, but it basically means that if users are hitting an application directly or indirectly a CAL is still required. For example, your users are hitting a web server that has a back end SQL server. The users are not touching the SQL app directly, but they are accessing information from it. You need a CAL.
How do I reimage and downgrade my OEM Windows 8 Pro with a Windows 7 Pro MAK that I don’t have? First off, yes you can legally downgrade and reimage an OEM copy of Windows. The problem is getting the key to do it. If you purchase a PC that has Windows 8 Pro, but you need to load Windows 7 Pro without a key, what you can do is purchase a single volume license of Windows Professional. The cheapest way to do it is by purchasing an SA Only sku of Windows Pro. You have 90 days to purchase this license after your PC purchase. This will give you the ability to log onto the Volume Licensing Services Center (VLSC) site and obtain a MAK Windows 7 and download. You only need to purchase one license as it will give you multiple activations. If you need more you can call Microsoft Clearing House to obtain more.
The Outlook that’s included in Office Standard doesn’t allow Personal Archiving or Retention Polices when using the Exchange Enterprise Cal, but standalone Outlook and the Outlook included in Office Pro Plus does? Isn’t it the same Outlook? Yes, if you purchase the Exchange Cal you’re likely doing so to use the Personal Archiving or Retention Polices that are included with it. However, for it to work properly, you need to either own standalone Outlook (basically you can purchase Outlook a la carte) or Office Professional Plus. For whatever reason the Outlook that comes with Office Standard doesn’t work. Microsoft doesn’t have an answer for this.