Author: Paul Cannon, Sr. Product Marketing Manager

Introduction

I started in the computer industry on a helpdesk team managing projects. My first “fly solo” project was evaluating the roll-out of ISDN video conferencing between 3 sites in San Francisco, Chicago, and London. When I went in front of my CEO to justify the expense of the project – he politely swept away all of my “supporting documentation”. Instead, he asked me 3 simple questions: Costs? Benefits? What is the business value?

It was a painful but great learning exercise in how to justify projects – one that sticks with me to this day. So when we assembled a v-team for Lync 2013 business value evidence, my hand shot up. The team approached the work from multiple directions: We commissioned a Forrester Consulting Lync 2013 Total Economic Impact (TEI) study, started building TCO comparisons between Lync and the competition, and gave Lync customers a platform to share their experiences through written case studies and in-person customer sessions. All of this work landed at our 2nd annual Lync Conference in Las Vegas in February.

But First – Understanding How a TEI Works

A Forrester Consulting TEI study looks at the benefits versus the costs to determine overall business value. For a typical TEI study, the work starts with actual customer interviews. Next, Forrester develops a composite company based upon those interviews. The costs and benefits come from those same customers along with Forrester industry data. Finally, the financial results are produced from the data.

Besides producing the study, there were compelling stories that came from this work that we wanted to share. The goal is to help you start the journey toward understanding Lync business value in your organization. Let us know if this helps.

Understanding the Benefits of implementing Lync 2013

Hopefully by now you have downloaded the TEI study– let’s walk through some of the key benefits and understand how real-world customer case studies reflect these savings.

Saved $1.3 Million in PBX and Web Conferencing

Legacy PBX solutions are generally expensive to maintain and as your business grows, acquisition costs for new PBX systems also soar. For our study, the composite company chose to remove its PBX infrastructure entirely. Lync gives you the option to completely eliminate separate PBX infrastructure for better cost savings.

Another area that prospective Lync customers often want is to reduce their dependence is on “pay as you go” web conferencing solutions. Lync provides conferencing as part of Lync – no per minute charges, no sudden true-up in years 2 and 3 for existing users. Our composite company for the study chose to completely eliminate other web conferencing solutions.

Our customers experienced even greater savings then reflected in the study. In their recent case study, UCB, a global biopharmaceutical company, states that they have reduced web-conferencing costs by more than US $1.4 million a year since replacing its legacy conferencing services with Lync 2013, Lync Server 2013, and Lync Mobile.

Telephony costs reduced by $1.7 million

When your organization is spread around the world as our composite company is, international call cost begins to add up. Conference call usage and international roaming charges are also significant costs. After discussions with our pool of customers, the study modeled telephony savings of $1.7 million for our composite company. But it's about more than reducing traditional phone calls. Lync naturally adds new modes of collaboration. Many phone calls are easily replaced with Lync’s instant messaging. Presence can insure better opportunities to get the right person at the right moment – and that improves efficiency. Conferencing pulls the team together at the right time eliminating the usual back and forth.

Customers like Mitul Shah, Head ─ IT, ofBlue Star Infotech Ltd saw reduced telephony costs as well. Shah explains, “The introduction of Lync has reduced telephone calls across various locations, as the employees can chat (text/audio/video) on the move.” And, “With one-one, one-two, or one-three audio conferencing using Lync, we are saving costs on telephone lines by 5─10 percent…”

Staffing Optimization Saved $3.9 Million Dollars

One interesting outcome of the TEI study was understanding how staffing changed and was optimized by the introduction of Lync. Our customers report that there is a fair amount of contractors and maintenance contracts in different countries to manage their legacy PBX infrastructure. Other customers reported not having a homogeneous infrastructure which introduced additional costs. By standardizing on Lync, they saw several benefits. We modeled this with our composite company to calculate these savings.

Chris Maxey, Systems IT Analyst at Tampa General Hospital, shares that "When our nursing and business staff can communicate more efficiently, we can get answers, test results, and other information to patients faster…”.

Do not forget the basics…

One interesting choice made by Forrester for this TEI study was to avoid the old tried and true “travel avoidance savings” that so many vendors claim. But in the real world, Lync customers continue reporting these savings.  Adventist Health System has saved millions of dollars in travel costs by using video conferencing to supplement in-person meetings. The company has reduced management and maintenance work as well.

The Key Takeaways

All of these details really help paint a picture of real world results for our customers. Let’s take a look at the key takeaways from the Lync 2013 TEI study to understand the financial results.

Payback Period of 14 Months

Payback period is really the “break even” point for your project. After crunching the data, the TEI study showed a payback period of14 months. Customers report even faster results. Steve Hanson, Global IT Manager, Cargill, notes “We’re on track to achieve ROI in less than 12 months.” EPAM Systems has also seen savings. “And with Lync, we’re seeing fewer service requests, reduced maintenance costs, and lower TCO.” - Siarhei Harbukou Project Manager.

NPV of $2.46 million dollars over 3 years

NPV, or Net Present Value, helps you to understand the future benefits in today’s dollars. Our composite company experienced an NPV of $2.46 million over the 3 years. Real world customers report compelling numbers as well.  Steve Hanson from Cargill states: “…we expect to return a net value of $1 million annually to Cargill business units through this cost offset.” And when you translate to a “per user” basis, the composite company of 5000 employees experienced a positive benefit of $493 dollars per user over the 3 years.

Where to go next

I am excited by these findings and the success of our customers – it demonstrates something we have known intuitively here at Microsoft.  Lync delivers solid value for many organizations. And we understand that “your mileage may vary”. We encourage you to begin thinking about benefits and costs for your company.

One great way is to apply our framework to your situation. I would suggest reaching out to your local Microsoft account team or partner to meet with you. They can conduct a personalized assessment so you can decide for yourself the business value of Lync for your organization.

Communicating the value of the cloud to non-technical readers can be a challenge. You have to strike a balance between demonstrating the value of the cloud and bogging the reader down in the details. The packaging matters too – it’s got to be clean, visually stimulating and a quick read.

Maybe you’re looking for a resource to help sceptical public sector clients see the value of cloud tools. Maybe you’re looking for a handy way to package together great case studies and cloud adoption advice in one place. Or maybe you need a little refresher yourself on all the different ways Microsoft Cloud services can help public sector clients..

Whatever the reason; we’ve got you covered. Our new eBook, “Bringing UK government into the cloud,” is a free, concise, easy-to-use resource for leaders across the UK public sector.

This free e-book aims to help customers understand:

• How public sector organisations are already taking advantage of cloud tools
• How moving to the cloud can help organisations save money and improve services
• How to build a business case for using cloud tools
• How to clear up common misconceptions about the cloud
• How to get started using cloud tools quickly and easily.

“Bringing UK government into the cloud” is available now as a handy PDF. There’s no form to fill out; just download the file and start reading. Feel free to send the url directly to clients – or head on over to Microsoft’s Government blog for more great public sector stories to share.

In the world where “1 Phoenix Force” takes place, the Earth we know is long gone, burned to ashes and taken over by monsters. You take flight as the reborn Phoenix in hopes of restoring life to Earth.

It takes strategy and dodging skills to master this classic arcade-inspired game, as you shoot your way through 70 boss battles and bring the essential gems to the Tree of Life.

Install “1 Phoenix Force” from the Windows Phone Store.

You might also be interested in:

• App of the Week: Stay in touch with your BFFs with Facebook Messenger for Windows Phone
• Apps for Windows Phone, tablets and PCs help keep your financial house in order
• 8-year-old creates Kids Zone app using Windows Phone App Studio
  

Athima Chansanchai
Microsoft News Center Staff

In the “Witch Potion” puzzle game, exclusive to Windows Phone 8 devices, you’re in charge of protecting adorable creatures from black magic.

Combine spooky, smelly ingredients like rotten eggs and horseshoes into potions that help Yeti, Ogre, Mermaid, Pegasus and others. There are 120 puzzles and eight different creatures who need your help. The fewer moves you make, the better your score.

Install “Witch Potion” from the Windows Phone Store.

You might also be interested in:

• App of the Week: Stay in touch with your BFFs with Facebook Messenger for Windows Phone
• Apps for Windows Phone, tablets and PCs help keep your financial house in order
• Take flight with “1 Phoenix Force” on Windows Phone
  

Athima Chansanchai
Microsoft News Center Staff

Microsoft has been dedicated to creating meaningful change in education for more than three decades, with $750 million invested in teacher training and professional development in the last 15 years, and Wednesday, at the 2014 Microsoft in Education Global Forum, the company’s top leaders worldwide pledged their continuing support for teachers as well as students and school leaders who are shaping the future.

The company’s education legacy is “without equal,” including the global YouthSpark Initiative, to create opportunities for young people in education, employment and entrepreneurship, writes Anthony Salcito, Microsoft’s vice president, worldwide education.

“Microsoft offers proven solutions to the shortcomings, privacy concerns and manageability worries that plague so many other education technology implementations,” he writes. “The power of 1:1 computing is unleashed with the cloud-enabled productivity of Office 365, Skype and OneDrive. Classroom technology is easily managed with Windows Intune, freeing up more time for teachers to focus on teaching. Bing search is integrated and ad-free, designed specifically for education. And for the most vulnerable among us – our children – privacy and security are guaranteed. No other education technology offering comes close.”

To read Salcito’s full post, head over to the Microsoft in Education blog.

You might also be interested in:

· Imagine Cup’s new prizes and opportunities give students new ways to succeed
· Microsoft in education: “Student safety and privacy rights come first”
· Skype celebrates women inspiring children in science, technology, engineering and math

Suzanne Choney
Microsoft News Center Staff

Summary: Use Windows PowerShell 4.0 DSC to easily remediate a server.

 How can I see what has been fixed on the server before I re-apply a DSC configuration?

 Use the –Verbose switch when you call the Start-DSCConfiguration cmdlet:

Start-DscConfiguration -Path "C:\DSC\Configurations\" -Wait -Verbose

In Windows 8.1, Microsoft introduced new app-to-app contractsthat let your users easily interact with people in their address books and integrate events into their calendars.

In the first of a two-part series on the Windows App Builder Blog, the Windows App Team walks you through both of these contracts, starting with contact cards that work specifically with people.

To learn more, head over to the Windows App Builder Blog.

You might also be interested in:

· Microsoft pledges continued support for education for teachers, students and school leaders
· Protect adorable creatures through “Witch Potion” on Windows Phone
· Apps for Windows Phone, tablets and PCs help keep your financial house in order

Suzanne Choney
Microsoft News Center Staff

What do @geektrainer and @bitchwhocodes have in common?

They both have awesome Twitter handles! And they’re both sharing their experience and insights in our upcoming “Building Blocks” Jump Start series. These entertaining and inspiring technology experts are teaming up with other seasoned pros, including @codefoster and @mlunes90, for three lively days of deep dives to help you gear up for next month’s //build conference. Whether you’re a web, app, C#, .NET, or JavaScript developer, you’re sure to stretch your dev muscles before the //build workout.

We start the series on March 26 with “Initialize(),” which focuses on various paradigms comparing JavaScript and C# side by side on the Microsoft platform. We continue on March 27 with “Construct(),” where you learn how to create great layout and style with XAML and HTML5. And we wrap on March 28 with “Extend(),” a session on successful mobile app and smart device strategies.

Sign up for one, two, or all three sessions, and be sure to bring questions for the Q&A!

Register now!Building Blocks series:

Initialize(), Wednesday, March 26, 9:00am‒5pm PDT

Construct(), Thursday, March 27, 9:00am‒5pm PDT

Extend(), Friday, March 28, 9:00am‒5pm PDT
Where: Live, online virtual classroom
Cost: Free!

Heat maps are a type of overlay that use different colors to show data hot spots on a map. Now a member of the Bing Maps team has come up with a solution for creating heat maps in native Windows Store apps.

Ricky Brundritt, Bing Maps Technology Solution Professional, describes in a post how he came up with the solution, and also documents the reusable library he created. Full source code can also be downloaded from the MSDN Code Samples he shares.

To learn more, head over to the Bing Dev Center Team Blog.

You might also be interested in:

· Developers: Find out how app-to-app contracts let your users interact with others in their address books
· Skype Labs celebrates 5 years; stay tuned for innovation showcases in the weeks ahead
· An MVP’s look at the Kinect for Windows v2 developer preview

Suzanne Choney
Microsoft News Center Staff

Beschreibung

Windows Phone erfreut sich immer größerer Beliebtheit und ist die am stärksten wachsende mobile Plattform weltweit. Vor allem die Integration, das Management und die professionellen Software-Entwicklungswerkzeuge machen Windows Phone zu einer leistungsstarken Plattform besonders im Businessumfeld.

Mit diesem 3-tägigen Workshop erhalten Sie einen effizienten und umfassenden Einblick in die Applikationsentwicklung für die Windows Phone Welt. Lernen Sie praxisorientiert von der Architektur, über den Einsatz spezieller Werkzeuge bis hin zu den unterschiedlichen Deploymentverfahren alles wesentliche kennen um professionelle Applikationen für die Windows Phone Plattform zu entwickeln.

 Agenda

Windows Phone Development Introduction and Architecture

• • Tools (VS, Emulator, Blend)

  • Capabilities, Manifest, App Security Model

  • Introduction to XAML Development

  • Introduction to Controls

  • More Controls: Windows Phone Toolkit, Bing Maps

  • Nokia Samples

  • MVVM, MVVMLight

  • Portable Libraries

  • Hybrid Apps (HTML5, PhoneGap)

  • Xamarin

Windows Phone Development Tasks

• • Navigation

  • Lifecycle

  • Running under the Lock Screen

  • Localization

  • WebClient / HttpClient

  • Sockets

  • OData

  • Isolated Storage

  • SQL CE DB

  • SD Cards

  • Contacts

Windows Phone Development Tasks (cont.)

• • Sensors

  • Launchers and Choosers

  • File and URI Associations

  • Input (Touch, Keyboard)

  • Speech

  • Lock Screen

  • Background Tasks

  • Toast

  • Push

• Tiles 

Application Deployment

• • Marketplace

  • Company Portal

  • MDM (Airwatch, MobileIron, Windows Intune)

• Side Loading

Zielgruppe  

Der Service/Workshop richtet sich an Softwareentwickler und Software Architekten.

Level

300

(Levels: 100= Strategic / 200= technical Overview / 300= technical Expert Level)

Sprache

Der Workshop wird in Deutscher Sprache gehalten.

Anmeldung

Unter folgendem Link finden Sie weitere Informationen zur Veranstaltungsreihe und können eine verbindliche Anmeldung vornehmen.  

http://blogs.technet.com/b/microsoft_services_deutschland/p/events.aspx

Just as kind of strange coincidence, I was in working on some Yammer message JSON goo and realized that there were actually a couple of other important data elements that comes down in the JSON payload when you get a collection of messages from REST.  That includes both querying for messages directly, as well as getting a collection back in search results.  In addition to the messages themselves, there's also some info that can be used with the realtime API, as well as what it calls "references".  The beauty of the references content is that it includes information about each user referenced in the collection of messages that are returned.  I missed this the first time around, just one of the dangers at trying to stare at about 4k of JSON and hoping to extract everything useful out of it.  Mucho love here to Fiddler and it's JSON parser for snapping me out of it.  :-)

If you read the blog post on integrating search results here:  http://blogs.technet.com/b/speschka/archive/2014/03/11/integrating-yammer-and-sharepoint-2013-search-results.aspx - you saw that when I got a list of search results back, I actually made a second call back to Yammer for each one to get information about the user associated with the message.  By pulling in the references information I no longer need to make those additional round trips now.

So there are two things I wanted to briefly touch on here.  First, I've updated the definition of the YammerMessages class; the JSON returned from Yammer is serialized into this class.  I've now added additional properties into which the realtime and references information is hydrated when you call GetInstanceFromJSON.  I've attached the updated class to this posting so you can download it and use it in your projects and then you will "automatically" get this new goodness.  The second thing is I rewrote the section of code in the search WebAPI service I had so that it uses that References collection now instead of calling back to Yammer.  I'm just going to paste in here the chunk of code from that solution that has changed; if you are going to build on that example I linked to above just plug in this new code:

foreach (YammerMessage ym in ysr.Messages.Messages)

{

                    #region used this method to get the user info by querying Yammer again

                   ////get the Yammer User that posted each message so we can pull in

                   ////their picture url

                   //string userUrl = oneUserUrl.Replace("[:id]", ym.SenderID);

                   //response = YammerREST.MakeGetRequest(userUrl, accessToken);

                   //YammerUser yu = YammerUser.GetInstanceFromJson(response);

                   #endregion

                   var yUser = fromYammerMessagesReferences yr in ysr.Messages.References

                               where ym.SenderID == yr.ID

                               select yr;

                   YammerMessagesReferences ymr = yUser.First<YammerMessagesReferences>();

                   //add a new search results

                   //finds.Add(new SearchResult(yu.FullName, yu.WebUrl, yu.FirstName, ym.MessageContent.RichText, yu.PhotoUrl, DateTime.Parse(ym.CreatedAt), ym.WebUrl));

                    finds.Add(newSearchResult(ymr.FullName, ymr.WebUrl, ymr.UserName, ym.MessageContent.RichText, ymr.MugshotUrl, DateTime.Parse(ym.CreatedAt), ym.WebUrl));

                    iCount += 1;

                   if (iCount == 3)

                       break;

}

by Joe Chason, US Microsoft Partner Network lead

If your company is due to renew its Microsoft Partner Network membership and competency in the next 90 days, it’s time to get your renewal started. Renewing your Microsoft Partner Network membership and competency on time ensures that you keep your valuable MPN benefits, including:

• Partner advisory hours that can be applied to technical presales assistance, Practice Accelerators, and other Microsoft Services offerings
• Access to Visual Studio and developer tools, communities, and software
• Marketplace exposure through the Microsoft Pinpoint Partner Directory
• Savings on Windows Phone plans devices through the Windows Phone Discount Program
• Internal-use software licenses for Microsoft cloud services and on-premises products
• Customized competency logo that differentiates your business

Your Microsoft Partner Network silver or gold competency comes with the distinction of your company being among the top 5 percent of Microsoft partners. Your MPN competencies show customers you have proven skills and experience that set your company apart from the competition.

The information and resources below can help your renewal process go more smoothly.

How do I know it’s time for my company to renew its Microsoft Partner Network membership and competency?

Sign in to the View your membership status page on the MPN portal. Your company’s membership date is listed in Step 3. If the membership date is within 90 days, it’s time to get your renewal started.

Yes, my company is due to renew in the next 90 days! Am I authorized to update my company’s Organizational profile and renew its membership?

Your company’s Primary Program Contact is typically the person authorized to update your organization’s membership profile and manage the renewal in the Partner Membership Center. The name of your company’s Primary Program Contact is in the Organizations tab on your Individual Account home page in the Partner Membership Center.

• If you are the Primary Program Contact and authorized to renew your company’s membership, use our competency renewal guide and our recommendations below to get started.
• If you are not the Primary Program Contact, share this post with him or her.
• For assistance, you can request one-to-one communications with an MPN Support agent in the Partner Membership forum of the Partner Support Community.

What does the Primary Program Contact do next?

• On your Home page in the Partner Membership Center, check Messages for items that may need attention for completing your renewal.
• Review and update your company’s Organization Profile in the Partner Membership Center. An accurate representation of your company’s business model, commercial and public sector customer focus, industry focus, etc. can help us deliver relevant, timely information about new products, programs, training, and opportunities.
• Download the competency renewal guide for step-by-step Partner Membership Center guidance.
• For assistance, you can request one-to-one communications with an MPN Support agent in the Partner Membership forum of the Partner Support Community.

Membership renewal and benefits resources every competency partner needs

Even if you are not yet in your 90-day renewal window, planning ahead for your renewal is a good idea. Here are resources that can help:

• Review the requirements for the competency or competencies your company currently has. Many of the exam requirements were changed in February 2014, and several competencies now also require passing sales assessments and presales technical assessments.
• Use the MPN Competency learning paths to prepare for and take required exams or assessments. You can use these paths to create team learning plans, too.
• Purchase a Microsoft Competency Exam pack and save up to 40% on qualifying exams, plus get a second shot to pass if it’s needed. Qualifying exams that are passed by April 27 are eligible for our certification sweepstakes, too.
• Gather your customer references and ask your customers to rate their satisfaction with you through the Customer Satisfaction Index. CSAT is required for gold competency attainment and renewal, and available for use by silver competency partners as well.

Maximize your membership by taking advantage of your benefits. According to IDC*, partners receive approximately $320,000 in value from the benefits of the Microsoft Partner Network.

• Review the core benefits that apply to your company’s MPN membership and that can help you plan your business, enable your team, create customer demand, sell, get services and support, and retain customers.
• Sign in to the MPN portal to view your company’s benefits summary.
• Deploy your internal-use software. Your license grants now include not only the latest Microsoft on-premises software, they also include Microsoft cloud services like Microsoft Office 365, Windows Intune, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, and a monthly credit toward Windows Azure. The Program Administrator Guide to Software and Online Services Benefits explains how to administer your software benefit.

• If you are a Cloud Essentials or Cloud Accelerate subscriber, get guidance for transitioning your cloud services benefits to your competency benefits in this video or the downloadable Cloud IUR transition guide

• Sign in to Logo Builder to download your customized competency logo, and incorporate it into your sales and marketing assets and materials to highlight your competency achievement. Get more information about aligning your company’s positioning and branding with Microsoft.
• Use your allotment of partner advisory hours to expand your practice, close more sales, and get expert guidance from Microsoft Services. For example, a Practice Accelerator uses just 5 hours, but provides you with reusable tools and best practices you can apply immediately and consistently.
• Create and manage your Microsoft Pinpoint profile to connect with new customers.

How to contact support

Sign in to the Support page on the MPN portal to see your options for obtaining support. We recommend using the Partner Membership forum in the Partner Support Community to request assistance. You can ask for one-to-one communication with an MPN Support agent.

If you have trouble signing in to the MPN website, follow these troubleshooting suggestions.

________________

*IDC, “The Business Value of the Microsoft Partner Network Core Benefits.” Mira Perry, Steven White, July 2012

Aaaaaand we’re back!

Okay, I realize the title of this post is very similar to Part 2 of this blog series - and there is very good reason for that. Though they look similar, they are different. Different personas; different scripts; different context.

Once again, I will call on a little image assistance, to clear things up (the scope of this post is illustrated by the portion of the image with the red outline):

Note     Find Part 1: Intro & TOC here and Part 2: Automated Deployment of Tenant Network and Identity Workload (Isolated Tenant Virtual Network & Active Directory VM Role; from the Service Admin Persona) here.

And if that didn’t clear it up, let’s try expanding on the title for Part 3, (now with more sub-title!)

Automated Deployment of the Identity Workload as a Tenant Admin

(Active Directory VM Role; from the Tenant Admin Persona)

So, as you know, Part 2 of this blog series was all about deployment as the Service Administrator persona. Now, in Part 3, it is all about deployment as the Tenant Administrator.

I think it is time for another quick rehash (with image):

In the above image, we see my view of these two personas, as well as what we will be getting into for this post (the first two bullets in the box on the right).

The Options

How about another image?

This time, to visualize the high-level process for the Tenant Admin:

So, as you can see, the Tenant Admin has options.

Note     Automatically adding the Isolated Tenant Virtual Network (Isolated Software Defined Network (SDN)) is completely optional, as the Service Admin can simply recommend that the Tenant Admin manually create Virtual Networks from the Tenant Portal before deploying VM Roles.

Reminder     These options are the same for any VM Role Deployment, Active Directory happens to be the first one to be deployed, so it gets all the attention.

The Process

Remember that multi-step process I described in Part 2?

Well, it is basically the same.

So, to save you from going back and forth, here is the representative image for “The Process”:

What’s the difference?

Primarily, it is the Web Service Endpoint PORT and Authorization method.

• As a Service Admin, you can leverage Bearer Token authorization and make WS calls against the Tenant API (non-Public), Port 30005
• As a Tenant Admin, you leverage Certificates and make WS calls against the Public Tenant API, Port 30006

In fact, if you are familiar with Automating Windows Azure with PowerShell, the pre-requisite process has a very similar look and feel.

Care to venture a guess what we leverage to setup/use the Certificate?

The Windows Azure PowerShell Module (It is one of the options anyway.)

That’s right. The very same – and if you haven’t checked it out, or downloaded the latest version, you may have missed all the “new-ish” commands that contain *-WAPack*

Which is a great segue to…

The Pre-Requisites

1. Valid Account and Subscription to a Plan within WAP (have the ability to login to the WAP Tenant Portal and provision Gallery Items (VM Roles)):
   
2. The latest Windows Azure PowerShell module(contains the latest *-WAPack* Commands):
   
3. Ability to Execute Windows Azure PowerShell Commands
4. Creation and Usage of a Management Certificate (derived from WAP Publish Settings File – see the Pre-Requisite Setup steps below)

The Pre-Requisite Setup

1. Download and Install the Windows Azure PowerShell Commands
2. Get the Published Settings File for your Subscription – Navigate to your version of the following URL: https://tenant.portal.com:30081/publishsettings
   
   This will prompt to download the file locally – My recommendation is to download to the machine where the PowerShell Scripts will be executed.
   
   (Example Path: C:\LocalPath\SubscriptionName-MM-d-YYYY-credentials.publishsettings)
   
3. Open PowerShell and ensure the Windows Azure PowerShell module is loaded
4. Execute the following command (modify the command text based on the name and where the publishsettings file is located):
   
   Import-WAPackPublishSettingsFileC:\WAP\Collaboration Workloads (Tenant Deployed)-3-11-2014-credentials.publishsettings

Note    These steps not only import the certificate into the Management Certificates section in the Tenant Portal:

But ALSO add it to the Certificate Store for the Current User:

Resulting in the following, when Get-WAPackSubscription is executed from PowerShell:

Reminder    The security best practice for the publishsettings file is to store it temporarily, and then delete it after the settings have been imported. A malicious user gaining access to the publishsettings file can edit, create, and delete your Windows Azure Pack resources.

So, there you go - All the theory and pre-requisites you can handle, right?

The good news…With these pre-requisites out of the way, we can now get on to the actual deployment script!

Example Active Directory Gallery Item VM Role Deployment Script

(as a Tenant Admin against the Public WAP API)

Note(s)     I have several notes about the above script. So I will list them here:

• This is just an example script.
• It has been tested against our Demo/Test/Dev environment multiple times.
• It absolutely requires the pre-requisites discussed above. And while there are alternatives to getting the required variable data based on the Get-WAPackSubscription command, I have found this to be the most efficient/dynamic method.
• I chose to leave all the Variable settings within the script. These could very easily be presented as Script Parameters, and fed into the script to make it a bit more generic.
• Just like the Service Admin example script, there is a portion of the Resource Definition Configuration (ResDefConfig) that is tied directly to the ResDef/ResDefExt for a given Gallery Item VM Role. When generating the Gallery Item Parameter Hashtable, I have separated the GI specific data from the common GI data. In most cases (especially for the Gallery Item VM Roles produced by my team), the only portion of the script that has to change per VM Role is this GI specific data (and, of course any specific Variable data).
• This script (for the Tenant Admin) should look nearly identical to the script from Part 2 (for the Service Admin). This is by design, as I wanted to keep as may synergies in play as possible. Remember, there are only subtle differences (Ports and Auth).
• While the steps in the Gallery Item VM Role deployment process will likely remain the same, the actual script could be improved in various ways: Addition of Script Parameters, Separated into Functions, Transformed into a Set of Cmdlets, etc. If anyone takes these improvements on, I will be happy to reference / endorse the published work here in this blog.
• Finally, as you can see, I have broken the script up into “regions”, each of which builds on the last, to eventually complete all the data collection / command execution for the final Invoke-WebRequest POST to deploy the Gallery Item VM Role. Here is an image illustrating the seven regions:
  

All that said, if everything goes right during the execution of this example script, you should see something very similar to this:

What’s Missing?

Reminiscent of one of the final sections in Part 2, this is where we check to see if I have “missed anything” – of course, strictly based on the in scope deliverables called out at the top.

So, let’s check those checkmarks…

Looks good to me!

But wait, WHY would I want to do this?

Great question! Here are some use cases (from both the Service Admin and Tenant Admin personas):

• Use Case 1:As a Tenant– Simple avoidance of manual clicking to deploy Gallery Item VM Roles
• Use Case 2: As a Tenant– Develop scripts to fully deploy a set of multiple concurrent (and/or dependent) Gallery Item VM Role Deployments (with scripts like this, you have complete control over the “what” and “when”)
• Use Case 3: As a Service Provider (or Enterprise acting like one)– Create a custom set of cmdlets encapsulating the parameters and logic into easily consumable/executable commands
• Use Case 4: As a Service Provider (or Enterprise acting like one)– Enabling your Tenants/End Users to automate their own Gallery Item VM Role deployments (external to any SMA efforts on the Service Admin side)

Note     These are just some of the use cases I could come up with off the top of my head. I am sure you have many more scenarios in mind.

What’s Next?

Well, at this point, based on Parts 2 and 3 of this blog series, you really have everything necessary to deploy not only the Gallery Item VM Role for Active Directory, but anyGallery Item VM Role you have built (or pulled down off of WebPI (or our Blog)).

But hey, I am not going to leave you hanging. The very next blog post is all about Tenant Workloads, where I will be providing the necessary script updates (to what you have seen so far) to deploy the Gallery Item VM Roles for Lync, SharePoint, and Exchange (for both personas).

AND A VIDEO (an actual 8-Minute-Demo Video)!

AND A TECHNET GALLERY CONTRIBUTION (for all the scripts)!

How exciting….

Oh, and have you seen this blog post yet?

Windows Azure Pack–Gallery Item VM Role–References for Creation, Configuration, and Automation

If not, check it out.

And while it does cross-reference back to this post, it covers the entire Gallery Item VM Role Lifecycle (well the important bits, anyway).

Blog Series Table of Contents

1. Part 1: Intro & TOC
2. Part 2: Automated Deployment of Tenant Network and Identity Workload(Isolated Tenant Virtual Network & Active Directory VM Role; from the Service Admin Persona)
3. Part 3: Automated Deployment of the Identity Workload as a Tenant Admin(Active Directory VM Role; from the Tenant Admin Persona)
4. Part 4: Automated Deployment of Tenant Workloads(Lync, SharePoint, and Exchange VM Roles; from both Service Admin and Tenant Admin Personas)
5. Parts 5 & 6: TBD(We hope to have something around: Value Added Services/Offerings and Ongoing Automated Maintenance/Operations)

Note     Automated Deployment of the VM Roles in these examples will include PowerShell scripts for both Service Admin and Tenant Admin personas.

Once Parts 1-4 are published, I will be creating a TechNet Gallery Contribution with a collection of all the scripts (SMA Runbooks / PowerShell Workflows). Look for a download link here in the coming weeks!

Thanks for checking out my latest blog series! For more information, tips/tricks, and example solutions for Automation within System Center, Windows Azure Pack, Windows Azure, etc., be sure to check out the other blog posts from Building Clouds in the Automation Track!

enJOY!

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Brazilian Wiki Ninja - Alan Carlos

In general, the *supported* method to add users and groups to user roles is using the console.  This is article will demonstrate an alternative method, that might be needed in cases where security got totally messed up, our a critical admin group got deleted.

The idea came from Michel Kamp’s article:  http://michelkamp.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/audit-scom-sdk-usage-operations/

Authorization Manager source (AzMan) was moved from a file in SCOM 2007, to a SQL database store in SCOM 2012.  It was possible in SCOM 2007, to accidentall delete the domain group used for SCOM admins, and lock out access.  To read about how to recover this scenario in SCOM 2007 see:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2640222

In SCOM 2012, you can load up Authorization Manager from SQL.  Here is how.

On your SCOM management server, open a MMC, and load the Authorization Manager snap in.

Once you lad that, right click Authorization Manager in the left pane and choose “Open Authorization Store”

Choose Microsoft SQL and input the properly formatted connect string.  Here is an example:

mssql://Driver={SQL Server};Server={SERVERNAME\INSTANCE};/OperationsManager/AzmanStore

Replace SEVERNAME\INSTANCE with your SCOM SQL server name (and named instance if needed) and change “OperationsManager” to whatever your SCOM OpsDB is named.  Here is mine:

mssql://Driver={SQL Server};Server={DB01};/OperationsManager/AzmanStore

When this opens up – you can see a list of GUIDS.  Each represents a built-in user role or custom scoped user role.  Expand 597f9d98-356f-4186-8712-4f020f2d98b4 and look at the Role Assignments:

We can see that belongs to The Operations Manager Administrators role.

Right click the top level GUID 597f9d98-356f-4186-8712-4f020f2d98b4 in the left hand side, and choose Properties:

On the security tab – you can add new groups here, or even individual users.

The above should only be used in a recovery scenario, use the console to directly administer membership of user roles.

Summary on IRM with Office Web Apps 2013

When it comes to IRM protected Office document libraries in SharePoint 2013, Office Web Apps 2013 offers read-only capability.  Office Web Apps relies on the document host system (i.e. SharePoint) to handle communication with Rights Management servers since it has no means to directly communicate with Rights Management Server. IRM protection precludes Office Web Apps from allowing editing of IRM protected documents.  Documents that are IRM protected through the client application (i.e. Word, PowerPoint, Excel) and stored on a document management system are not able to be opened. as well as IRM protected documents are stored on Windows Live, Facebook or other 3rd Party hosts systems.

Limitations
Office Web Apps does not support the following features normally offered for non-IRM protected documents.  These features are currently suppressed from the user interface:

• Edit in browser
• Print
• Save
• Copy selection
• Add comments

No word on when or if these features will be available for IRM protected libraries in an upcoming release.

The MVA team continues to provide IT professionals with the latest training on Windows Server 2012 R2 and has released two new courses:

Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials:

Learn from Microsoft Product Marketing Manager David Fabritius​ as he takes you through Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials and the new Windows Server Essentials Experience role available on the Standard and Datacenter editions of Windows Server 2012 R2.

Software Defined Networking with Windows Server and System Center:

Join Microsoft engineers on March 19 to learn how to configure, manage, and run software-defined networking in large organizations using Windows Server 2012 R2 and System Center 2012 R2. Discover best practices and deep technical guidance aimed at architects, networking engineers, virtualization specialists, IT generalists, and data center managers. Register now!

View all of the latest courses on Windows Server 2012 on the MVA Windows Server Topic Page and download the Windows Server 2012 R2 evaluation or use our free Windows Server 2012 R2 Virtual Labs to test the product online without installation.

If you want one app that can play both your music and videos, the VLC Media Player might be right up your alley. The beta version of VLC for Windows 8 gives you the ability to easily add media, sort it, search it and play it.

VLC media player is an open source application that plays all multimedia file formats; from files, streams and discs. It will play most video file formats, including Ogg, FLAC and MKV.

Install VLC for Windows 8 beta from the Windows Store and read more about this app on the Windows Experience Blog.

You might also be interested in:

• App of the Week: Stay in touch with your BFFs with Facebook Messenger for Windows Phone
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• Take flight with “1 Phoenix Force” on Windows Phone
  

Athima Chansanchai
Microsoft News Center Staff