This is a quick one to check to ensure your TCP packets are able to contain the maximum amount of data possible, low values in this area will severely affect network performance.

Maximum Segment size or MSS is a TCP level value which is the largest segment which can be sent on the link minus the headers. To obtain this value take the IP level Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) and subtract the IP and TCP header size.

So for a standard Ethernet connection with minimum size IP and TCP headers we subtract 40 bytes from the 1500 byte standard packet size (minus the Ethernet Header) leaving us with an MSS of 1460 bytes for data transmission.

So to get the most efficient use of a standard Ethernet connection we want to see an MSS of 1460 bytes being used on our TCP sessions.

This setting is agreed in the TCP 3-way handshake when a TCP session is set up. Both sides send an MSS value and the lower of the two is used for the connection.

It's easy to check this, take a Netmon or Wireshark trace and find the connection you're interested in, Netmon will filter the connections by process on the left hand side for you.

Once you've found the connection (ensuring you've started tracing before initiating the connection) then you just need to open the first to frames of the connection, the SYN & SYN ACK. Indicated by an S followed by an A..S in the description of the frame. To capture the 3-way handshake make sure you start tracing, then start Outlook, or connect to your SharePoint site in a new Browser window.

Once you've clicked on the first packet, the SYN, then in the frame details down on the bottom, open up TCP Options and the MSS can be clearly seen.

Here we see the MaxSegmentSize shown as 1460.

Repeat this with the SYN ACK which should be the second frame if you've filtered the connection away from other traffic. The lower of the two values will be your MSS. If it's 1460 then you're configured to use a full sized data payload.

One caveat to this, it doesn't mean that this value can actually be used, it's possible a network segment along the route has a lower MTU than we're aware of. If this is the case, if all is well we'll get an ICMP message back from the router at the edge of this link when we send a 1460 byte packet with the do not fragment bit set. This packet will tell us what the MTU is on the link and we'll adjust accordingly. However it's always worth checking this value is set to a high value and we can see the TCP payload throughout the trace is at 1460 (on full packets) and hasn't dropped down to a lower value.

It's common to see this value lower than the maximum of 1460 (for an Ethernet network), if for example we know a network segment along the route has a lower MTU, one with an encryption overhead for example, but the value shouldn't be significantly lower. 576 Byte packets are a sure sign we've hit problems and dropped down to the minimum packet size so keep an eye out for those.

Also, remember, if you're using a proxy, you'll have to check this both on the client, and a trace on the proxy or NAT device if used as there will be two distinct TCP sessions in use and you won't see the problem if it is beyond the proxy/NAT unless you trace there for that second TCP connection.

It's rare to see an issue with this, but it's always worth a quick check to ensure it's working as expected.

One of the main things we need to get right to ensure the most efficient and speedy connectivity to O365 is where in the world your DNS call is being completed. You'd think this wouldn't matter, you do a DNS lookup for your O365 tenant, get the address then connect right? Well, normally yes, but with O365, especially with Outlook, we do some pretty clever stuff to utilise our worldwide array of datacenters to ensure you get connected to your data as efficiently as possible.

Your Outlook connection will do a DNS lookup and we use the location of that lookup to connect you to your nearest Microsoft Datacenter. With Outlook we'll connect to a CAS server there and use our fast Datacenter to datacenter backbone network to connect you to the datacenter where your exchange servers (and data) are located. This generally works much quicker than a direct connection to the datacenter where your tenant is located due to the speed of the interconnecting networks we have.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn741250.aspx outlines this in more detail but a diagram nicked from this post shows how this works for Outlook/Exchange connectivity when the Exchange mailbox is located in a NA datacenter but the user is physically located in EMEA. Therefore the DNS lookup is performed in EMEA, we connect to the nearest EMEA datacenter, which then routes the connection through to your mailbox over our backbone network, all in the background and your Outlook client knows nothing about this magic going on behind the scenes.

If your environment is making its DNS calls in a location on a different continent to where the user is physically located then you are going to get really bad performance with O365. Take an example where the user and Mailbox is located in EMEA. Your company uses DNS servers located in the USA for all calls, or the user is incorrectly set to use a proxy server in the USA, thus we're given the IP address of a USA based datacenter as that's where we think your user is located. The client will then connect to the USA based datacenter which will route the traffic to the EMEA datacenter which will then send the response back to the USA based datacenter which will then respond to the client back in EMEA. So with this scenario we've got several unnecessary trips across the pond with our data.

If the It is therefore vitally important to get the DNS lookup right for when you move to Outlook on Office 365.

So how do you check this? Well it could be a bit tricky as although we release a list of IP addresses used for O365, we don't tell you which ones map to where, for many reasons including the fact they change regularly. Thankfully one of my Microsoft colleagues has shown me an easy way to check you're connecting to a local datacenter.

All you need to do is open a command prompt on the client and ping outlook.office365.com and the response will tell you where the datacenter is you'll connect to. So sat here in the UK at home, I get EMEAWEST

If I connect to our Singapore VPN endpoint and turn off split tunnelling and force the DNS call down the VPN link (our Internal IT do a great job of making these things configurable for us techies) then I get directed to apacsouth.

And if I connect via VPN to the mothership in Seattle, my DNS call is completed there and thus I get directed to namnorthwest.

So it's a quick and easy check, just make sure the datacenter returned is in the same region as you're physically located in.

SharePoint is currently directed to the datacenter where your tenant is located so it doesn't matter so much where the call is made for this (although it should still preferably be local to the user for the portal connection). Lync is slightly different and is outlined in this article in more detail.

It's also worth ensuring all your clients are using a proxy in the same region as where they are located, as if not, they could hit the problem outlined above and thus be getting unnecessarily poor O365 performance.

I had a requirement to test some background audio scenarios for my team and found it more difficult than i expected to get this done.

There is documentation out there (references at the end of this post), but i didn't find anything that went end to end without any gaps for an inexperienced Windows 8 developer like me to follow. I also noticed some of the content had changed a little since Windows 8 was released.

This post will show you how to implement basic background audio in a working (JavaScript based) sample for Windows 8.1.

Starting right at the beginning:

1. Open Visual Studio and select the options to create a new project, based on the JavaScript "Blank App" template. (The name, location etc. are up to you).

2. 'OK' the new application wizard and you should arrive at the basic new application screen with the default.js open and a list of resources listed under your solution on the right.

3. Add an .mp3 to the solution to test things out with. (For a real project you will want to build a file picker, but for this we can just add an .mp3 to the project).

You can do this by creating a 'audio' folder and adding the file to play in the new folder.

Right click on the Application name under solution explorer, then select "Add", "New Folder".

I called the new folder "audio" but it doesn't matter too much what you call it.

4. Right click on your new "audio" folder and choose "Add", "Existing Item". Then navigate to the audio file you want to use in the 'Add Item' dialog.

You should end up with a solution explorer that looks like this:

5. At this point, we could go right ahead and make a simple change that would allow us to play the track. Lets do that just to see some progress.

In Solution Explorer, go to default.html and double click it to open it in the main window. Then insert the following 3 lines of HTML 5 code:

<audio id="audiotag" controls="controls">
<source src="audio/b.mp3" />
</audio>

Default.html should look like this:

6. You should now have an app that plays audio. You should start the application to test this is true. (Click on the big green play button that says "local machine" at the top).

The application should look like this (and play the file you added):

The thing you will notice is that when you switch to another application or minimize the app, your audio stops playing. At this point, the app is not capable of background audio (try it).

To get the application ready for background audio, there are three high level steps:

a) A background audio declaration must be in the app manifest.

b) You must set the stream category (msAudioCategory) to either Communications or BackgroundCapableMedia.

c) Your app must register for media transport controls.

Expanding on each:

a) Declare background audio in the application manifest:

You can do this part graphically or in the xml. 

Double click on the package.appxmanifest file in the solution explorer window and it will open up the manifest settings in a nice UI:

In the editor choose the "Declarations" tab, then click the "Add" button:

You need to select "Audio" and type "default.html" in for the start page.

That's it for part a) we can close the package.appxmanifest file.

b) Set the stream category (msAudioCategory) to BackgroundCapableMedia

This part is a snap. Just jump back to the HTML in "default.html" and change the audio element to include this information.

The original 3 lines of HTML now looks like this:

<audio id="audiotag" controls="controls" msAudioCategory="BackgroundCapableMedia" >
<source src="audio/b.mp3" />
</audio>

In the editor:

(Don't worry that the msAudioCategory attribute has a squiggle under it for now)

c) Register for the media transport controls

Because you are playing background audio, you must register and handle the media controls.

What are they?

They are the buttons you get when you navigate away from your background audio playing application that let you handle volume and song selection:

Without this functionality in your app, the background audio wont work (but the audio will while the app has focus).

To get it done (the minimal amount) you need to add some code:

In solution explorer navigate to the "js" folder, then open the "default.js" file.

When it is first opened, it will look like this:

We need to add the following code (explanations are inline):

In app.onactivated we add:

//add the media control
var MediaControls = Windows.Media.MediaControl;

// Add event listeners for the buttons
MediaControls.addEventListener("playpressed", play, false);
MediaControls.addEventListener("pausepressed", pause, false);
MediaControls.addEventListener("playpausetogglepressed", playpausetoggle, false);

// Add event listeners for the audio element
document.getElementById("audiotag").addEventListener("playing", playing, false);
document.getElementById("audiotag").addEventListener("paused", paused, false);
document.getElementById("audiotag").addEventListener("ended", ended, false);

The result for app.onactivated will look like this (note the code is added just after the default code but before the closing brace):

Now all we need is handler functions for that media control. Again, a very basic example might look like this:

// Define functions that will be the event handlers
function play() {

}

function pause() {

}

function playpausetoggle() {

}

function playing() {

}

function paused() {

}

function ended() {

}

We paste the functions in just above the app.start(); code.

Note that none of the wiring is done. However, we should find that the application will now play the audio in the background.

As expected, the audio continues to play in the background when the app is minimized or another app is switched in. We also get the audio controls although they don't do anything.

(I've attached the very basic solution to this post - i removed the audio file so you just need to add an mp3 in the audio folder - call it b.mp3 to make it simple, or modify the code with your file name).

That's it. Seems straight forward to me now, but it took me longer than it should have, hence the blog post.

The appropriate resources are:

Being Productive When your App is Off-screen - Blog post.

Adding Audio to a Windows Application - MSDN.

Audio Sample Code - MSDN.

Background Media - Channel 9 Talk

Configure Media Controls - MSDN (shows you how to complete the controls)

Programming Windows Apps - Free eBook

Have a great weekend.

Custom Search configuration settings created at the site or site collection scope, such as results sources, query rules, and result types are stored in the Search Service Application.  Therefore when a site or site collection backup/restore, or export/import occurs these settings don't come along for the ride. 

The best, and easiest way to maintain those settings across environments is to use the built-in Search Configuration Import/Export utility within the SharePoint UI.  Details about this process are documented here so I won't cover the process in this post.

What is important in that article, however, is that you meet the following criteria when importing:

• That the search configuration file and the target for your import do not have settings with the same name, except for managed properties.
• That the source of your export does not include managed properties or aliases that contain the invalid characters listed in Invalid characters causing the import to fail.
• That managed property names and aliases are unique within the combination of the search configuration file and the search configuration settings on the target site and its parent site collection.

Also important is this list of reasons the import might fail:

• If the search configuration file and the target for your import have settings with the same name, the import of the search configuration file fails when it encounters this setting. Exceptions:

• If you reimport a search configuration file, the settings that have the same name in the search configuration file and on the target do not cause the import to fail.
• Managed properties with the same name do not cause an import to fail if the individual managed property settings are the same on the property in the search configuration file and on the target property.
• Managed properties with the same name do not cause an import to fail if the aliases and mappings to crawled properties are different on the managed property in the search configuration file and on the target managed property. The import adds the aliases and mappings on the managed property in the search configuration file to the aliases and mappings on the target managed property.

• If the search configuration file contains managed property names or aliases that contain invalid characters, the import fails when it encounters that managed property name or alias.
• The managed property names and aliases of a search schema must be unique for a site and its parent site collection. This means:

• If your search configuration file has a managed property that has the same name as an alias for a managed property on your target site or the parent site collection of your target site, then the import fails.
• If your search configuration file has a managed property with an alias that has the same name as a managed property on your target site or the parent site collection of your target site, then the import fails.

So, after trying this process and having it fail I discovered two reasons:

1. Some of the Managed Properties in my source environment had been set to be Refinable (see above bullet point about the managed property settings being the same).  This resolution was simple: set the target environment property settings to Refinable…Done.
2. I was getting an error that the "Search Config List does not exist"

This is another one of SharePoint's extremely (un)helpful errors.  So, to the ULS logs I went searching for the correlation, which I found and looked like the following:

[Forced due to logging gap, Original Level: Verbose] Ensuring that SearchConfig List feature is activated..        080f9f9c-c3c7-00e6-f747-e381d72a7204

Search config settings features are installed. Verifying activation.        080f9f9c-c3c7-00e6-f747-e381d72a7204

Search config settings feature 41dfb393-9eb6-4fe4-af77-28e4afce8cdc was not activated. Activating         080f9f9c-c3c7-00e6-f747-e381d72a7204

Feature Activation: Activating Feature 'SearchConfigFields' (ID: '41dfb393-9eb6-4fe4-af77-28e4afce8cdc') at URL https://site.        080f9f9c-c3c7-00e6-f747-e381d72a7204

[Forced due to logging gap, cached @ 06/27/2014 14:18:26.29, Original Level: Verbose] SQL connection time: 0.0688635008080636 for Data Source=SQLServer;Initial Catalog=Records_Content_DB;Integrated Security=True;Enlist=False;Pooling=True;Min Pool Size=0;Max Pool Size=100;Connect Timeout=15;Application Name=SharePoint[w3wp][2][Records_Content_DB]        080f9f9c-c3c7-00e6-f747-e381d72a7204

The element of type 'Field' for feature 'SearchConfigFields' (id: 41dfb393-9eb6-4fe4-af77-28e4afce8cdc) threw an exception during activation: A duplicate field name "Status" was found.        080f9f9c-c3c7-00e6-f747-e381d72a7204

Feature Activation: Threw an exception, attempting to roll back.  Feature 'SearchConfigFields' (ID: '41dfb393-9eb6-4fe4-af77-28e4afce8cdc').  Exception: Microsoft.SharePoint.SPException: A duplicate field name "Status" was found.     at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeature.HandleProvisioningException(Exception e, Boolean force)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPElementDefinitionCollection.ProvisionFieldsAndContentTypes(SPFeaturePropertyCollection props, SPSite site, SPWeb web, SPFeatureActivateFlags activateFlags, Boolean fForce)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPElementDefinitionCollection.ProvisionElements(SPFeaturePropertyCollection props, SPWebApplication webapp, SPSite site, SPWeb web, SPFeatureActivateFlags activateFlags, Boolean fForce)     at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPFeature.Activate(SPSite siteParent, SPWeb webParent, SPFeaturePropertyCollection props, SPFeatureActivateFlags activateFlags, Boolean fForce)        080f9f9c-c3c7-00e6-f747-e381d72a7204

[Forced due to logging gap, cached @ 06/27/2014 14:18:26.39, Original Level: Verbose] SQL connection time: 0.131371445253517 for Data Source=SQLServer;Initial Catalog=Records_Content_DB;Integrated Security=True;Enlist=False;Pooling=True;Min Pool Size=0;Max Pool Size=100;Connect Timeout=15;Application Name=SharePoint[w3wp][2][Records_Content_DB]        080f9f9c-c3c7-00e6-f747-e381d72a7204

[Forced due to logging gap, Original Level: VerboseEx] Reverting to process identity        080f9f9c-c3c7-00e6-f747-e381d72a7204

Leaving Monitored Scope (Feature Activation: Activating Feature 'SearchConfigFields' (ID: '41dfb393-9eb6-4fe4-af77-28e4afce8cdc') at URL https://site.). Execution Time=202.671079704264        080f9f9c-c3c7-00e6-f747-e381d72a7204

Search config settings feature 41dfb393-9eb6-4fe4-af77-28e4afce8cdc could not be activated. Activation failed with message 41dfb393-9eb6-4fe4-af77-28e4afce8cdc        080f9f9c-c3c7-00e6-f747-e381d72a7204

What this told me is that the SearchConfigFields feature was not properly activating.

I got the ID from the ULS (underlined above) and ran the following PowerShell to manually activate the feature:

$web=Get-SPWeb -Identityhttps://mysharepointsite

Enable-SPFeature -Identity41dfb393-9eb6-4fe4-af77-28e4afce8cdc-Url$web-Force -Verbose

The feature activated successfully.  I was now able to import my configuration file!

There wasn't much out there about this particular error, so I hope this helps others that may run into this issue.  Happy SharePointing!

We'll have more announcements as the team progresses, but I'm glad to announce that the French Wiki Ninjas are starting!

It's more than a group. It's a blog!

You can see some of the early thinking here...

French Council Bloggers (fr-FR)

When the blog launches, this is where it will live: http://blogs.technet.com/b/wikininjasfr/

This will be our fourth language TechNet Wiki blog!

1. English: http://blogs.technet.com/b/wikininjas/
2. Portuguese: http://blogs.technet.com/b/wikininjasbr/
3. Turkish: http://blogs.technet.com/b/wikininjastr/
4. French: http://blogs.technet.com/b/wikininjasfr/

Have a great weekend!

   - Ninja Ed

Summary: Learn how to make a rudimentary backup for a simple Lync Server environment.

Honorary Scripting Guy, Sean Kearney, is here. Today we're going to play a game of "Let's Pretend."

Let's pretend you got hired in a new company or are taking over from someone who had to deploy a simple Lync infrastructure. This will be a bit more complex than last week when we talked about simple management techniques for Lync Server 2013. Be sure to read this series of Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog posts: Managing Lync Server 2013 with Windows PowerShell.

This time, our configuration will be:

• Lync Server 2013 Standard as a front edge
• Lync Server 2013 Standard in an edge configuration
• A server running IIS for Application Request Routing (ARR)
• Servers are virtualized

So the question is, "How do you want to back up this puppy?"

The magic answer is (of course as always in the IT community), "It depends."

• How much space do you have available for backup?
• What's your available software?
• What is the acceptable downtime?

And the list can go on and on—like any server.

Before we go any further, I'm going to point you to Backing Up and Restoring Lync Server 2013. This topic discusses all the ins and outs of backing up your Lync environment.

From a simple standpoint, you could back up the virtual machine as a whole—the entire file structure in one complete swoop. All three machines!

Is that a good approach? I can say from personal experience that it does work and it requires very little effort to restore. It does, however, require time. And the bigger those servers are, the more time it will take to restore them. It also takes more space (you're going to have to put all that data somewhere).

So let's go with a smarter approach. Let's find out what the server actually needs to have restored. (There's a concept.)

Let's assume that last weekend we took care of most of the prerequisites for creating a Lync server. The Lync infrastructure was hauled off by Zaphod Beeblebrox in the Heart of Gold. It seems improbable, which is most likely why it happened.

Now we have a disaster recovery scenario. We could plug together most of the prerequisites we created last week as part of a disaster recovery Windows PowerShell script. But think about it. If you were to leverage SCCM, MDT, or any approach for spinning up a new machine with ease, and simply spin up a fresh Lync server afterwards, what's missing?

All together now class: THE CONFIGURATION.

So the first part (as we read about in Backing Up and Restoring Lync Server 2013) lives in the wonderful world of Windows PowerShell. (What do you mean you didn't read the documentation? No soup for you!)

So we'll need our Lync topology—the very file that defines our Lync infrastructure. We can retrieve this by using the Export-CSConfiguration cmdlet. (We'll presume that in all of the following examples, you're storing the files in a folder called C:\Backup, and we're running it on the Lync server.)

Export-CSConfiguration –filename C:\Backup\Topology.zip

This will create a simple ZIP file that contains your Lync Server 2013 topology.

Then we'll grab information from the Central Management store. One cmdlet again. Export-CSLisConfiguration will save the day:

Export-CSLisConfiguration –filename C:\Backup\CentralMgmtStore.zip

This creates a simple ZIP file that contains the information from your Central Management store.

In our case, we are running a single front-end server, so we need to run the following cmdlet only once. This backs up all the user data from the SQL Server database on that front-end server:

Export-CsUserData -PoolFQDN eot-lync.contoso.local -FileName C:\Backup\EOT-Lync.zip

In addition, we should make sure that our SSL certificate file is backed up. Yes! We can do that with Windows PowerShell:

GET-ChildItem CERT:\localmachine\my | where { $_.HasPrivateKey } | Foreach-Object { [system.IO.file]::WriteAllBytes("C:\Backup\$($_.thumbprint).pfx", ($_.Export('PFX', ‘secret’)) ) }

So for our Lync server, we could have a single Windows PowerShell script to get the bulk of the information for the backup like this:

Export-CSConfiguration –filename C:\Backup\Topology.zip

Export-CSLisConfiguration –filename C:\Backup\CentralMgmtStore.zip

Export-CsUserData -PoolFQDN eot-lync.contoso.local -FileName C:\Backup\EOT-Lync.zip

GET-ChildItem CERT:\localmachine\my | where { $_.HasPrivateKey } | Foreach-Object { [system.IO.file]::WriteAllBytes("C:\Backup\$($_.thumbprint).pfx", ($_.Export('PFX', ‘secret’)) ) }

Then the only thing that we need do is back up the file stores (which are in a single shared folder on your Lync server).

Do you see something nice going on here? It means that stock out-of-the-box, we don't need an expensive agent to back up Lync Server. We can simply leverage a standard file server agent (versus using a SQL Server backup). It doesn't negate that option. The more ways you have to back up, the merrier. But it does mean that with a little Windows PowerShell, you can get all the data you need in one shot!

Pop in tomorrow and we'll look and what is need to back up the IIS server that is running the ARR, then we can all sit back and enjoy a round of Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters!

I invite you to follow the Scripting Guys on Twitter and Facebook. If you have any questions, send an email to the Scripting Guys at scripter@microsoft.com, or post your questions on the Official Scripting Guys Forum. See you tomorrow. Until then just remember, the Power of Shell is in You.

Sean Kearney, Windows PowerShell MVP and Honorary Scripting Guy 

Posted by Brad Smith
General Counsel & Executive Vice President, Legal & Corporate Affairs, Microsoft

Over time, privacy protection has advanced in key moments. These have involved judges and advocates who appreciated new technologies and found ways to ensure privacy prevailed in a changing world. This week’s unanimous decision by the Supreme Court in the case of Riley v. California ranks with other key historical moments. More than in any other recent decision, the Supreme Court this week advanced privacy in a digital era characterized by ubiquitous computing.

As a result, the scales of justice shifted in a profound way toward a new ideal of privacy in a digital world. There is an important history for privacy that points in this direction and is worth appreciating.  But it’s important to start simply by saying this: it was not just a historic week, but a very good week for privacy. A scale implies balance. The Supreme Court’s decision strikes the right balance between public safety and the privacy concerns of users of mobile technology.

[Read more...]

In a Saturday blog post, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith offered his perspective on a unanimous decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Riley v. California.

The court ruled in the case that warrantless searches under an exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement cannot extend to cell phones, and that authorities must secure a warrant from a court to search such a device.

“More than in any other recent decision, the Supreme Court this week advanced privacy in a digital era characterized by ubiquitous computing,” wrote Smith, who is also executive vice president of Legal and Corporate Affairs at Microsoft.

For the rest of the story, head on over to Microsoft on the Issues.

You might also be interested in:

· Use your Lumia 1020 to unhinge reality with abstract photos
· Beauty of Programming contest draws 18,000 participants from throughout China
· 40 soccer photo contest finalists will get Lumia 1520 devices to capture more of the beautiful game

Jeff Meisner
Microsoft News Center Staff

Continuing this amazing and humbling series, we now have, for the third week in a row, an announcement for a Wiki Ninja who became an MVP!

Please join me in congratulating Mohit Gupta!

1. Mohit's MVP Profile:

http://mvp.microsoft.com/en-us/mvp/Mohit%20Kumar%20Gupta-5000452

You'll notice an emphasis in Mohit's activities are on his excellent TechNet Wiki articles...

TechNet Wiki Activities:

2. Mohit's TechNet Profile:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/profile/mohit%20kumar%20gupta/

Wiki Statistics:

• 3 BizTalk Guru Medals
• 5,737 TechNet Recognition Points
• 17 Wiki Articles (all high quality)
• 92 Article Edits
• 45 Wiki Comments

Top Wiki Articles:

• BizTalk Server 2010: How to use SFTP Adapter
• Using Windows Azure Biztalk Service to receive EDI file from multiple partner and convert to XML.
• How to integrate Two way WCF Service with Windows Azure Biztalk Services
• Installing BizTalk Server 2013 on Multiple Virtual Machine on Windows Azure
• XSLT Muenchian grouping - Biztalk Complex transformation

3. Mohit's Wiki Ninja Interview:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/wikininjas/archive/2013/11/18/interview-with-biztalk-wiki-ninja-mohit-gupta-mcc-and-technet-guru-medal-winner.aspx

Thanks to Maheshkumar for hosting this interview!

Here are a few excerpts:

Mahesh: Who are you, where are you, and what do you do? What are your specialty technologies?
Mohit: My Name is  Mohit Kumar Gupta .I am 25 years old, live in Noida (near Delhi, India)  with my family (mother, father and Wife).
I have been in the IT industry for more than 4 years. I started my professional career with BizTalk server. Since then, I have been working with Biztalk, C#, Dynamic Ax, and WCF.

Currently working as a Senior BizTalk developer at Zones Inc.

Mahesh: What are your favorite Wiki articles you’ve contributed?
Mohit:

Complex FlatFile parsing using Biztalk Schema and Map (This was a TechNet Guru winning article)
muenchian grouping using custom Xslt 

Mahesh: Who has impressed you in the Wiki community, and why?
Mohit: I would like to say thank to all  TechNet Wiki contributors who share their knowledge.

My special thanks to 

M.R.ASHWIN PRABHU
Saravana Kumar
Richard Seroter
Sandro Pereira
Steef-Jan Wiggers
Leonid Ganeline
Nino Crudele

Join me in congratulating Mohit on this well-earned honor!

   - Ninja Ed

Welcome to this issue of the US Partner News Online! Each week, we’ll bring you the latest news and information for Microsoft partners. You can read previous weeks’ issues at http://aka.ms/uspnewsletter.

If you’d like to see the next post in your email inbox, go to http://aka.ms/uspblog and enter your email address under “Subscribe and follow” on the right hand side.

To stay in touch with me and connect with other partners and Microsoft sales, marketing, and product experts, join our US Partner Community on Yammer and choose how you want to stay informed.

On a personal note, I recently passed my 15-year milestone here at Microsoft. I’d like to say “Thank You” to all of you who read this blog and connect with me here and through our other US Partner Community social properties. It’s my pleasure and a privilege to work with Microsoft partners every day.  - Diane

Top stories

The US Partner’s Guide to a Great WPC 2014
Flip through this comprehensive look at what you'll see, hear, and do while at WPC 2014. Get tips and guidance for getting the most out of your conference investment and attendance.

WPC 2014: Registration Price Increases on July 1
We hope you are planning to join us for 2014 Worldwide Partner Conference, just a couple of weeks away. If you have not yet registered for WPC 2014, the price of an all-access pass will increase on July 1. Register today for incredible networking and connection opportunities, keynotes by Satya Nadella and Phil Sorgen, and more than 300 sessions focused on your business and personal growth.

Evolving Your Delivery Model to Maximize Profitability in the Cloud
The cloud offers partners an opportunity to move from a pure project-based delivery model to a mix of project-based and managed services. Making this move allows you to successfully execute a project up front while mixing and optimizing resources for the long-term customer relationship. Read this blog post about US partner, RoseBud Technologies, and how they made this shift.

Get the Inside Scoop—Register for the New SMB Partner Insider Call Series
Join your region’s SMB Partner Insider call each month for the inside scoop on what’s happening now and what's coming next from SMB at Microsoft. You’ll get business insights from your Microsoft Regional General Manager, as well as updates about new products, solutions, offers, and incentives, plus best practice tips from fellow SMB partners.

July 10: Learn How to Build a Wildly Successful Sales Team by Partnering with Local Businesses
Register for this webinar and be among the first to preview the new Microsoft Community Connections (MCC) Partner Playbook for Engaging Business Organizations in your local community.

Prepare for WPC 2014

Add the United States Regional Keynote to Your WPC Schedule
The United States Regional Keynote is on Tuesday, July 15, from 4:00PM–5:00PM in Ballroom ABC of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Join US Partner Vice President, Jenni Flinders, Microsoft North America President, Judson Althoff, and special guests to learn about Microsoft partner investments in the coming year and your opportunities. Add session LS629 to your WPC Schedule in WPC Connect.

Your Future in the Cloud at WPC
At the WPC 2014 Day 1 Vision Keynote, Microsoft Channel Chief, Phil Sorgen, will talk about your opportunities for growth in the cloud, and how MPN is changing to help you seize those opportunities. In our US Partner’s Guide to WPC, see our recommendations for suggested pre-reading, sessions to add to your WPC Schedule, and how you can meet US Cloud Experts to discuss your future in the cloud.

First Time Attendee Resources
If this is your first WPC, don’t go it alone! Let us help you plan your attendance so that you get the most out of your investment. We want you to have a successful conference and an amazing experience. Your resources include the First Time Attendees group on WPC Connect, a session on Sunday, July 13, and recommended sessions to add to your WPC Schedule. Download the US Partner Guide for links to these resources, and more tips and ideas.

July 15 at WPC: Modern Marketing in a Cloud First, Mobile First World
Join Microsoft US marketing leaders and your peers at the Modern Marketing in Cloud First Mobile First World discussion. Gavriella Schuster, General Manager of Business Strategy for the Microsoft Partner Network, will keynote. A Microsoft partner will share how her company’s marketing philosophy is shaping their success, and you’ll hear from a panel of Microsoft marketing leaders about marketing priorities and customer insights.

July 16 at WPC: Increase Your SMB Revenues with a Hybrid Cloud Solution
When it comes to cloud adoption, small and medium businesses show a strong preference for a hybrid (on-premises plus cloud) approach. Offer your customers the choice of private, public, or hybrid cloud solutions that meet the needs of their businesses. Register for this webcast and learn how.

Resources

Cloud Profitability: Realize New Opportunities in the Cloud
Realize new revenue opportunities in the cloud. Industry experts expect the public IT cloud services industry to reach US$108 billion by 2017 (IDC, 2014). Invest in your Microsoft cloud plan now to be ready. Download the IDC Successful Cloud Partners 2.0 eBook and check out the other resources on our Cloud partner profitability page.

KEMP Technologies Virtual LoadMaster for Azure
On June 26, we had our final Microsoft Azure ISV YamJam, with KEMP Technologies. You can read the conversation we had about KEMP’s solution, Virtual LoadMaster for Azure, on the US Partner Community Yammer network, and connect with the KEMP Technologies team. On our blog, see the other companies that were featured in our YamJam series.

Three Ways Hybrid Cloud Can Help a Business Today
A truly hybrid solution can benefit a company’s business processes, your employees, and your data storage costs. In this blog post by the Microsoft Server and Cloud Platform Team, learn about the advantages Microsoft Azure offers customers over VMWare and Amazon, and three specific ways a hybrid approach benefits businesses.

Training and Certification

Stay informed about training opportunities that align to your business and role. For real-time updates and reminders about upcoming training, follow @mslearningcurve on Twitter.

July Hot Sheet: Find and Register for Upcoming Training and Partner Calls
The Hot Sheet is a frequently updated schedule of live virtual and in-person training and informational calls that are coming in the next few weeks. Subscribe to the US Partner Learning blog to receive the Hot Sheet as soon as it's published each month.

Microsoft Office 365 Sales Training Now Available On Demand
The Drumbeat Office 365 virtual sales training released on June 25 is available online. This comprehensive training for Sales Professionals and Presales Technical Professionals will help you have effective conversations about Office 365 with your upper midmarket and enterprise customers. If you’re going to WPC, register for live Office 365 sales training on Sunday, July 13 (space is limited).

Microsoft Dynamics Partners: Whiteboard Sales Training Series
Watch these 30-minute on-demand webcasts that will help you learn how to use tools that help you engage with prospects, no matter where you are. These short web seminars will focus on specific topics to help in your whiteboarding skills. Content is on PartnerSource, and requires signing in to access.

Microsoft Dynamics GP Now and Next Resources and Tools
The tools and resources that were covered at the  Microsoft Dynamics GP: Now and Next roadshow are now available to you on demand. Content is on PartnerSource, and requires signing in to access. 

Microsoft Dynamics Partners: Sales Shot Bites Series
The Sales Short Bite series is suggested to all front-line sales and marketing resources to address the most common sales process inhibitors we’ve seen among our top partners over the course of the year. These sessions offer recommendations for specific adjustments to your sales process that will help you drive results.

Microsoft Dynamics Partners: Accelerated Sales Process Series
Changing prospect buying behaviors, competitive sales tactics, and increasing SaaS adoption are all driving a need to improve differentiation, accelerate sales cycles, and lower sales costs. In this series, available on demand, we explore the strategies, tactics, and underlying sales assets required to help you close more Microsoft Dynamics ERP opportunities.

Featured video

Watch this video from the IAMCP DC Chapter, about how to get around Washington, DC while you’re at WPC 2014.

Calendar through August 31 

This list is a sampling of upcoming partner calls, training, and events. Refer to the July Hot Sheet for a comprehensive list for the next several weeks that's frequently updated.

• June 30 – Windows Intune and People-centric IT – WPC Preview
• June 30 – Your Urban Adventure Sweepstakes Ends
• June 30 – SMB Advantage for Microsoft Dynamics CRM and CRM Online Ends
• July 10 – Learn How to Build a Wildly Successful Sales Team by Partnering with Local Businesses
• July 13 in Washington, DC – Drumbeat Sales Training for Office 365
• July 16 in Washington, DC – Increase Your Revenues - Move SMB Customers to the Hybrid Cloud
• July 13–17 in Washington, DC – 2014 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference
  • Add the US Keynote to your WPC Schedule in WPC Connect (registered WPC attendees)
  • Add the US sessions to your WPC Schedule in WPC Connect (registered WPC attendees)
  • Not yet registered? See the US Keynote and sessions in the Session Catalog
• July 15 – Programming the Kinect for Windows V2 Jump Start
• July 16 – 17 – Windows Azure Pack; Infrastructure as a Service 
• July 24 – Migrating Legacy Windows Server to 2012 R2 and Microsoft Azure
• August 8 – SMB Partner Insider Call – East Region
• August 8 – SMB Partner Insider Call – Central Region
• August 8 – SMB Partner Insider Call – West Region
• August 19 in Seattle, Washington – Unite 2014: Unity & Windows Porting Lab
• August 27–28 – US Microsoft Dynamics FY15 Kick Off

Technology has been making inroads in classrooms around the world for years now, but there have remained significant – and stubborn -- barriers to success, especially around access, security and affordability. The good news is that, as manufacturers and vendors continue to streamline and simplify mobile and cloud-based technology, those roadblocks are beginning to fall away.

Cumulative Update 2 for ConfigMgr 2012 R2 was just released!

More details here:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/configmgrteam/archive/2014/06/27/now-available-cumulative-update-2-for-system-center-2012-r2-configuration-manager.aspx

Summary: Use the Lync cmdlets to obtain a copy of the Lync topology.

 Instead of going through the GUI wizard, can I use Windows PowerShell to schedule a fresh copy
          of my Lync topology as a regular nightly task so I can compare deltas?

 Run the following Windows PowerShell cmdlet to create a file called Topology.zip with all of your topology:

Export-CsConfiguration -FileName C:\Backup\Config.zip

This blog describes the change in behavior when changing vendor on a purchase requisition, and releasing the requisition to a purchase order related to KB 2973728.

Microsoft Dynamics AX2012R2 before KB 2973728

When you create PO’s from approved requisitions, the system will transfer financial dimensions from the requisition line to the PO line. If you change the vendor or add a vendor after the requisition line was approved then the vendor’s default financial dimensions will not be transferred to the PO line. See screenshot below.

For some companies this has been a problem.

Microsoft Dynamics AX2012R2 with KB 2973728

In the situation above, the business process has required that the financial dimensions from the added vendor are used on the Purchase order line. So if there is a default financial dimension on the vendor card, then that value should override the value of the financial dimension coming from the purchase requisition line.

KB 2973728gives you the option to enable the above described behavior. You need to set up the purchasing policy to:

"Merge financial dimensions into a purchase order when a vendor is (modified or) added to an approved purchase requisition". This is done from Procurement & Sourcing> Setup> Purchasing policies.  Create a new "Purchase order creation and demand consolidation" rule. Then, for the "Manual purchase order creation", check the "Merge financial dimensions ...." policy.

Furthermore, as part of KB 2973728, the Sales tax group will now always be copied from the vendor record to the created purchase order.

Summary: Use native automation and Windows PowerShell cmdlets to back up Lync Server 2013.

Honorary Scripting Guy, Sean Kearney, is here to finish up my crazy weekend fun automating Lync backup.

So we've already gone through probably the trickiest part, which is getting the bulk of the Lync server infrastructure backed up. To read about that, see Basic Lync Server 2013 Backup and Restore—Part 1.

Now what else could be backed up? How about the firewall settings?

Obtaining the firewall configuration of your servers is incredibly easy within Windows Server 2012 R2. One single cmdlet gets us everything:

Get-NetFirewallRule –enabled True

If we'd like to grab a copy of the rules, we could store each within an XML file, and maybe even name the file based on the server name:

$Name=(Hostname)+'-FirewallConfig.xml'; Get-NetFirewallRule –enabled True | Export-CLIXML $Name

Running this on each Lync server would give us the present inbound and outbound firewall rules as a single file that we could back up.

Believe it or not, we've already backed up the edge server. How did that happen? The edge server configuration (independent of firewall settings and certificates) simply relies on the topology XML file for defining its configuration.

Now on to our IIS server, which is performing the role of Application Request Routing (ARR). How shall we back up that one? Do you want to play the "Screenshot/Print Game" or get creative with a little automation?

Yes, little Johnny in the back. I see you jumping up and down shouting, "Automation! Automation!"

Automation it is.

However this time, we won't be using Windows PowerShell (now stop crying, Johnny). We'll be using the built-in administration commands in IIS.

If you've played with the ARR role, it's storing configuration information that does nothing more than translate one FQDN to another. To restore the ARR role on that server (other than the server name and the actual features), you'll need the configuration for the ARR.

I will not take credit on this solution. The answer came from a brilliant fellow on serverfault.com as I was searching for the very same answer: How can I export URL rewrite rules?

You can use the command AppCmd to work with the IIS configuration. To pull out all the rules for ARR, you'll have to run the following commands:

C:\Windows\system32\inetsrv\appcmd list config "websitename/appname" -section:system.webServer/rewrite/rules –xml

C:\Windows\system32\inetsrv\appcmd list config -section:system.webServer/rewrite/globalRules –xml

C:\Windows\system32\inetsrv\appcmd list config -section:webFarms/ -xml

We can also make this a lot more readable in DOS. Why not swap out the directory name with a variable to boot?

SET APPCMD=C:\windows\system32\inetsrv\

%APPCMD%appcmd list config "websitename/appname" -section:system.webServer/rewrite/rules –xml

%APPCMD%appcmd list config -section:system.webServer/rewrite/globalRules –xml

%APPCMD%appcmd list config -section:webFarms/ -xml

This is of course relatively useless because it only dumps a pile of information on the screen. So we'll have to capture this. We'll have to go "old school" with a redirector. And we'll use a DOS variable for the folder name too.

Set Backup=C:\Backup\

%APPCMD%appcmd list config "websitename/appname" -section:system.webServer/rewrite/rules –xml > %BACKUP%rewriterules.xml

%APPCMD%appcmd list config -section:system.webServer/rewrite/globalRules –xml > %BACKUP%globalrewriterules.xml

%APPCMD%appcmd list config -section:webFarms/ -xml > %BACKUP%webfarms.xml

We could go even further with our backup process for Lync servers (or other servers, for that matter) to extend it to near disaster recovery scenarios. We could the get the memory, disk sizes, and server configuration! Nothing stopping us from doing that in Windows PowerShell. The output could be a simple CSV file too.

$Computer=(GET-WMIOBJECT Win32_computersystem)

$Ram=$Computer.TotalPhysicalMemory

$Servername=$Computer.Name

$Domain=$Server.Domain

$DiskInfo=GET-WmiObject –query 'Select * from Win32_Logicaldisk where DriveType = 3'

$DataOut = new-object PSObject

$DataOut = Add-Member –MemberType NoteProperty –name "ServerName" –Value $Servername

$DataOut = Add-Member –MemberType NoteProperty –name "PhysicalRam" –Value $Ram

$DataOut = Add-Member –MemberType NoteProperty –name "Domain" –Value $Domain

Foreach ($Disk in $DiskInfo)

{

$DataOut = Add-Member –MemberType NoteProperty –name "DriveLetter" –Value $Disk.DeviceID

$DataOut = Add-Member –MemberType NoteProperty –name "DriveSize" –Value $Disk.Size

}

$DataOut | Export-CSV C:\Backup\ServerConfig.csv

This should give you a starting point for getting all of the most critical information out of our small Lync environment. It is not so tricky to do. But extending this backup to a self-documenting system? There's an interesting thought!

Stop by tomorrow because I can sure smell something good cooking up on the Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog.

I invite you to follow the Scripting Guys on Twitter and Facebook. If you have any questions, send an email to the Scripting Guys at scripter@microsoft.com, or post your questions on the Official Scripting Guys Forum. See you tomorrow. Until then just remember, the Power of Shell is in You.

Sean Kearney, Windows PowerShell MVP and Honorary Scripting Guy 

The FIFA World Cup football is currently taking a fairly significant amount of my personal time, and so far my favourite team, the Dutch team is absolutely great. This is at the time of writing, it is very possible that by the team you read this blog post we’ve been eliminated, but I have good hopes that we’ll make it at least to the semi-final.

So, I was wondering about my Wiki World Cup team and came up with the following (unfortunately, some players had to be placed on the bench, but there’s no helping that).

Ed Price can be the coach. So Ed, the coach of the Dutch team Louis van Gaal is born in “Avenhorn” and is called the “Oracle of Avenhorn”. Where are you from, so we can decide on your nick name?

Coach:

• Ed Price - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/profile/ed%20price%20-%20msft/

Here’s the rest of the team:

Consisting of:

• Luigi Bruno - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/profile/luigi%20bruno/
• Margriet Bruggeman - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/profile/margriet%20bruggeman/
• Benoit Jester - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/profile/Benoit%20Jester%20-%20MTFC
• Matthew Yerlett - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/profile/Matthew%20Yarlett
• Carmelo La Monica - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/profile/Carmelo%20La%20Monica
• Davut Eren - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/profile/Davut%20EREN%20-%20TAT
• XAML guy (Peter Laker) - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/profile/XAML%20guy
• Durval Ramos - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/profile/Durval%20Ramos
• Gokan Ozcifci - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/profile/Gokan%20Ozcifci
• Craig Lussier - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/profile/craig%20lussier/?ws=usercard-hover
• Steef-Jan Wiggers - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/profile/Steef-Jan%20Wiggers

Finally, but not less important, our bench players:

• Yottun8 -  http://social.technet.microsoft.com/profile/tomoaki%20yoshizawa/
• Alan Carlos -  http://social.technet.microsoft.com/profile/alan%20nascimento%20carlos/?ws=leaderboard
• Sandro Pereira - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/profile/Sandro%20Pereira
• Peter Geelen -  http://social.technet.microsoft.com/profile/peter%20geelen%20-%20msft/
• Naomi Nosonovsky - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/profile/naomi%20%20n/
• Horizon_Net (Jan Hentsche) - http://social.technet.microsoft.com/profile/Horizon_Net

On to win the world cup!

Pasadena Independent School District in Texas is joining the growing number of districts around the country that are choosing Microsoft technology to help transform the student learning experience in the classroom.

The district will give students and teachers 12,900 Dell Venue 11 Pro tablets with Windows 8.1 and Microsoft Office 365 with OneNote. A primary consideration in the district’s decision was the innovative digital inking technology available in Windows 8.1, brought to life with OneNote and a touchscreen device like the Dell Venue 11 Pro.

“We believe in providing students with the best technology, and after carefully evaluating our device options, we concluded that the inking capabilities in Windows 8.1, combined with the power of OneNote, gave students and teachers the most engaging experience possible,” said Steve Wentz, chief technology officer for the Pasadena Independent School District.

The announcement was made Sunday at the International Society for Technology in Education conference in Atlanta.

Read the press release for more information, including some of the other districts that are choosing Microsoft’s technology for education.

You might also be interested in:

· Leon County School District uses Windows 8 and Office 365 for 1:1 digital learning initiative
· Teachers: You may already have these tech tools at hand
· Microsoft Year Up youth internship program to be expanded

Suzanne Choney
Microsoft News Center Staff

Разворачивая очередную ферму на базе Windows Server 2012 R2, столкнулся с проблемами при настройке рабочих процессов для SharePoint/Project Server 2013.

Весь процесс настройки не очень сложный:

1. Установка Workflow Manager: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj193448.aspx - при наличии доступа в Интернет, http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj906604.aspx - при отсутствии доступа в Интернет
2. Настройка Workflow Manager с помощью мастера: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj193510.aspx
3. Выбор сценария и регистрация возможности: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj658588(v=office.15).aspx#section4 (я использовал общую ферму и HTTP)

На шаге 3 у меня и возникли трудности. О них по порядку:

• При вызове Cmdlet-а Register-SPWorkflowService возникла ошибка "The remote server returned an error - 404 not found...". Нашел аналогичные заявки (http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/sharepoint/en-US/fc8dbc41-f3b9-4469-89b1-2dc990fc696e/registerspworkflowservice-error-the-remote-server-returned-an-error-404-not-found?forum=sharepointadmin), но отказаться от использования 2012 R2 - не наш метод. Решение оказалось простым - через Web Platform Installer 5.0 установить Workflow Manager CU2. Но это не удалось осуществить беспрепятственно.
• Для установки Workflow Manager CU2 потребовался Service Bus CU1, который в свою очередь не желал устанавливаться, ссылаясь в журнале на отсутствие Windows Fabric - "Install exit code for product 'Microsoft Windows Fabric V1 CU1' is '1603'".
• После более детального анализа выяснилось, что системе требуется Microsoft VC Runtime 11 для корректной работы компонентов фермы рабочих процессов. Скачать пакет можно отсюда: http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=30679.
• Установив наконец все пререквизиты и перезагрузив сервер, я успешно развернул сначала Service Bus CU1, затем Workflow Manager CU2 и, наконец, настроил интеграцию ферм с помощью команды Register-SPWorkflowService.

Думаю, что в очередных накопительных обновлениях описанные недочеты будут исправлены, а пока помните о них, если планируете инсталляцию на Windows Server 2012 R2.

Артём Хлобыстин - Premier Field Engineer II, EMEA Technical Lead

Did you know there is a large variety of apps in the Windows Store and more are being published every day? Apps are great tools, and on a Windows device, they can be more than standalone tools.