Update:  I had the opportunity to test this on SCOM 2016 and the same procedure works.

Also, I’ve uploaded GAC util as well as the SCOM DLL here as they are not on the SCOM 2016 DVD either.  You can find them here.

Previous Article:

_________

As a quick overview, FIPS stands for Federal Information Processing Standards and it’s a set of algorithms that has to do with encryption of data at rest and data in transit.  FIPS is not turned on by default as many applications are not FIPS compliant out of the box.  You see this in use more in high security environments.  Like many applications, SCOM is not FIPS compliant by default.  Changes need to be made in order for it to be compliant.  There’s a KB article on this subject published here.  This article changed at some point and it’s currently inaccurate in a few places and somewhat misleading.  I’ve placed a request to get it updated, but to date it has not been updated.  Updating for FIPS is a somewhat cumbersome process, so I’ll walk through the step by step in this blog.

First off, let’s determine if FIPS is enabled.  That’s easy enough to do.  Open the registry and navigate to the following key:

HKLMSystemCurrentControlSetControlLsaFIPSAlgorithmPolicy

The “Enabled” DWORD value will be set to 1.  This is often set via GPO in secure environments, so simply changing this will be reverted. 

Turn on FIPS and reboot your system, and your webconsole will look something like this:

I would note that on some internal cases, there can be an internal server error listed here instead.

Now to the fix:  WARNING:   Backup all files you touch in this section before proceeding.

Step 1:  The first thing you need to do is to get a DLL file off of the SCOM CD. IMPORTANT NOTE:  This file is found only on the SCOM 2012 RTM or SCOM 2012 with SP1 CD.  It is not on the SCOM 2012 R2 CD.  They are located in the SupportToolsAMD64 folder of the CD.  Copy the Microsoft.EnterpriseManagement.Cryptography.dll file to C:Program FilesMicrosoft System Center 2012 R2Operations ManagerServer.  (note, this is your SCOM installation directory.  This is the default location, but that can vary based on your setup). 

Also download a copy of gacutil.exe.  This isn’t easily found.  It’s a part of the SDK kit for Windows as well as some of the .NET development tools.  It is not in the SCOM CD.  I’d make it available for download, but that doesn’t seem to be an option for this source.   The SDK kit is free, and can be found here.  It’s a rather large download, so be patient.  For the purposes of this step, place gacutil.exe on your desktop.

Step 2:  Next, we will open up a command prompt in administrative mode and then type the following:

cd desktop and press ENTER

gacutil.exe /i “C:Program FilesMicrosoft System Center 2012 R2Operations ManagerServerMicrosoft.EnterpriseManagement.Cryptography.dll” and press ENTER.

Tope notepad and press ENTER.  

What you’ve done to install the DLL file and then open up notepad in admin mode.  You want this because the files you need to edit are in protected locations on the OS, and as such, it will not let you save over them.  Opening notepad as an administrator gets you around that problem. 

Step 3:  From notepad, open the following file:

C:WindowsMicrosoft.NETFrameworkv2.0.50727CONFIGmachine.config

NOTE:  You’ll need to switch from viewing only text files to all files to see this in notepad.  As well, if your windows directory is not the standard directory, you’ll need to adjust the path.  The location of where this addition should be is not specified in the article… BUT, location DOES matter. Scroll down to the very end.  Paste this information right before the </configuration> line.

Note, you may want to copy this off of the web link as my formatting isn’t quite the same.  It should look something like this:

Save it.  Do not close Notepad.

Step 4: Repeat step 3 for the following file locations:

• %WinDir%Microsoft.NETFrameworkv4.0.30319Configmachine.config
• %WinDir%Microsoft.NETFramework64v4.0.30319Configmachine.config

Step 5: From notepad, open the following file:

C:Program FilesMicrosoft System Center 2012 R2Operations ManagerWebConsoleWebHostweb.config

This file is a bit trickier to edit due to the fact that the tags you are looking for show up twice.  In every case, the tag shows up first in a commented out section.  If you make the edits there, it won’t work.  You have to find the second tags (see screenshot below).  First locate the <encryption> tag and add the following line underneath it:

<symmetricAlgorithm iv=”SHA256″/>

Second, locate the <Connection element.  Replace the <Connection… and the <Session lines with the following lines:

<connection autoSignIn=”True” autoSignOutInterval=”30″>
<session encryptionKey=”SessionEncryptionKey” tokenAlgorithm=”SHA256″>

Save this.  It will look something like this (note I circled the comment lines so you can see them as well).

Step 6: From notepad, open the following file:

C:Program FilesMicrosoft System Center 2012 R2Operations ManagerWebConsoleMonitoringViewweb.config

Note this is also where the KB article goes wrong, pointing you to some .NET locations.  Those tags do not exist in those locations. Once this open, you can repeat step 5 covering the <encryption> element and <connection elements.  Those steps do not change.  There is one caveat here though.  The <session> tag is closed differently between this file and the one in step 5.  If you replace these directly, you’ll remove the ‘/’ tag at then end which will cause a mal-formed URL or something like that.  You can simply add a line and add a </session> immediately following the <session encryptionKey=”SessionEncryptionKey” tokenAlgorithm=”SHA256″> line.   The issues with the comment marks are present here as well.  Make sure you update the correct elements.

After that, you need to locate the <system.web> element and paste the following lines beneath it:

<machineKey validationKey=”AutoGenerate,IsolateApps” decryptionKey=”AutoGenerate,IsolateApps” validation=”3DES” decryption=”3DES”/>

Save this and close notepad.

It wouldn’t hurt to reset IIS after this point or just reboot the system.

Relaunch the web console.  It should look something like this:

If you made a mistake in the above steps, the error message should tell you where the mistake is, even so far as going to the exact line/character of the file.  You may need to turn on debugging to get that information.  If so, the error message will give you instructions on how to do that.  Compare that closely to the information in the link to see what went wrong.  Any typo can kill this.  It’s best to copy and paste where possible.

We are very excited to announce today that you can now download drivers and firmware for Surface Studio from the Microsoft Download Center.

Visit https://aka.ms/drivers/surfacestudio to download the MSI file:

• SurfaceStudio_Win10_161504_0.msi

To extract the individual driver files from the MSI file, for example to prepare for deployment of Surface Studio devices with the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) or System Center Configuration Manager, you can use the following msiexec command (where C:SurfaceStudioDrivers is the destination folder for the extracted files):

msiexec /a SurfaceStudio_Win10_161504_0.msi targetdir=C:SurfaceStudioDrivers /qn

Note: When extracting driver files from the MSI, the destination folder (targetdir) must be different than the folder containing the MSI file.

Once the files have been successfully extracted, you can find driver and firmware files under the folder SurfacePlatformInstaller, found in the destination folder. For example, using this command, you would find the Surface Studio driver files in the following folder:

C:SurfaceStudioDriversSurfacePlatformInstallerSurfaceStudio_Win10_161504_0

Note: When extracting driver files from the MSI, multiple folders may appear for certain drivers, for example, you may find duplicate folders and drivers for both NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M.

The following drivers are available in this download:

Windows 10

• Surface Embedded Controller Firmware (v117.1288.257.0)
• Surface Management Engine (v11.0.15.1003)
• Surface Touch (v5.120.5.251)
• Surface UEFI (v117.1281.768.0)
• Intel(R) Xeon(R) E3 – 1200/1500 v5/6th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) PCIe Controller (x16) (v10.1.1.33)
• Intel(R) Xeon(R) E3 – 1200/1500 v5/6th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) Host Bridge/DRAM Registers (v10.1.1.33)
• Intel(R) Xeon(R) E3 – 1200/1500 v5/6th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) Gaussian Mixture Model (v10.1.1.33)
• Intel(R) Ethernet Connection I219-LM (v12.15.23.1)
• Intel(R) Smart Sound Technology (Intel(R) SST) Audio Controller (v8.20.0.931)
• Intel(R) Smart Sound Technology (Intel(R) SST) OED (v8.20.0.931)
• Intel Chipset SATA RAID Controller (v14.10.3.1041)
• Intel(R) 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family SMBus (v10.1.1.33)
• Intel(R) 100 Series/C230 Series Chipset Family Thermal subsystem (v10.1.1.33)
• Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows (v18.31.1.43)
• NVIDIA High Definition Audio (v1.3.34.15)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M (v21.21.13.6910)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M (v21.21.13.6910)
• Realtek High Definition Audio(SST) (v6.0.1.7937)
• Realtek I2S Amp Device (v10.0.10586.16)
• Surface IR Camera (v1.0.31.0)
• Surface Dial Filter (v1.1.6.0)
• Surface Display (v1.1.207.1)
• Surface Display Color (v1.0.99.0)
• Surface Integration (v1.0.182.0)
• Surface Keyboard Firmware Update (v2.0.68.1)
• Surface Keyboard Integration (v2.0.8.0)
• Surface Mouse Firmware Update (v2.0.50.0)
• Surface Mouse Integration (v2.0.8.0)
• Surface Storage Firmware Update (RAID) (v1.1.722.0)
• Microsoft LifeCam Front (v5.20.1034.1)
• Intel(R) Management Engine Interface (v11.0.5.1189)
• Intel(R) Serial IO GPIO Host Controller v30.63.1620.3)
• Intel(R) Serial IO I2C Host Controller (v30.63.1620.3)
• Marvell AVASTAR Bluetooth Radio Adapter (v15.68.9048.83)
• Marvell AVASTAR Wireless-AC Network Controller (v15.68.9048.83)
• Maxim Power Meter (v100.0.1.1)
• Surface Accessory Firmware Update (v1.1.382.0)
• Surface Button (v1.1.662.0)
• Surface Digitizer Integration (v2.0.0.0)
• Surface Pen (v1.1.352.0)
• Surface Pen Click Filter (v2.0.1.0)
• Surface Pen Settings (v12.0.307.0)
• Surface Pen Integration (v1.1.359.0)
• Surface Pen Pairing (v1.0.56.0)
• Surface Integration Service Device (v1.0.146.0)
• Surface Software Servicing (v3.0.10.0)

In Sicherheitskreisen setzt sich die Auffassung durch, dass der SHA-1-Hash-Algorithmus nicht mehr sicher ist. Angreifer könnten Schwachstellen in SHA-1 nutzen, um Inhalte zu fälschen und Phishing-Attacken oder Man-in-the-Middle-Angriffe auszuführen. Microsoft hat deshalb mit anderen Unternehmen der Branche einen Plan zur schrittweisen Ablösung von SHA-1 entwickelt. Gleichzeitig werden Anwender vor den möglichen Risiken gewarnt, die beim Besuch von Webseiten mit SHA-1-Zertifikat lauern.

In Phase 1 entfernen wir das Schlosssymbol in der Adressleiste von Microsoft Edge und Internet Explorer, wenn eine Website mit SHA-1-Zertifikat besucht wird. Phase 2 beginnt am 14.2.2017: Microsoft Edge und Internet Explorer werden dann schon das Laden von Websites mit SHA-1-Zertifikat verhindern und eine Warnung zu dem ungültigen Zertifikat ausgeben. In Phase 3 schließlich wird Windows in allen Zusammenhängen SHA-1 als unsicher betrachten.

Als Administrator von Websites sollten Sie sicherstellen, dass die Hash-Algorithmen Ihrer Seiten rechtzeitig aktualisiert werden. In unserer SHA-1 User Guidance (PDF) finden Sie dazu nützliche Tipps. Weitere Details finden Sie in der folgenden Checkliste und unter http://aka.ms/sha1 (engl.)

Microsoft Partner Network （MPN）の概要についてご説明したビデオシリーズを順次公開しております。

[第10回] マイクロソフトテクニカルサポートを活用しましょう をご紹介いたします。以下よりぜひご覧ください。

Pokud investujete do cloudové služby, musíte důvěřovat tomu, že data vašich zákazníků budou v bezpečí, že je chráněné soukromí vašich dat a že máte všechny procesy pod kontrolou. To znamená, že se data, firemní aplikace a zařízení budou používat jen takovým způsobem, který odpovídá vašemu očekávání.

Microsoft vás zve na sérii webinářů „V cloudu a bezpečně“, kde budeme procházet témata napříč světem cloudu, od prostředí open source aplikací, přes SAP a zpracování dat, až po analýzu kybernetických hrozeb.

Od 5. do 9. prosince bude Microsoft pořádat „týden v cloudu“. Pro registraci a více informací o každém z webinářů, klikněte na odkazy níže.

5. prosince od 13:00
Digitální transformace firem: přeměňte svá data v inteligentní akce

6. prosince od 15:00
SAP on Azure

7. prosince od 10:00
Windows Server 2016 a jeho napojení na Microsoft Azure

8. prosince od 14:00
Provoz Open Source řešení v Microsoft Azure

9. prosince od 10:00
Azure Marketplace: jak smazat bariéry mezi cloudem a Vaším privátním IT

Tešíme sa na vás!

More than 60 partners joined us in November at the Cloud Ready workshop in Irvine, California to learn about transforming their businesses to capitalize on the Microsoft Cloud. The Cloud Ready workshop is structured to help partners build and sustain a profitable, cloud-oriented partner business, through a mix of expert instruction and conversations with partners that have been through Cloud Ready and achieved business goals they set.

Here are highlights from the presentations we heard:

• Chaitra Vedullapalli from Meylah reviewed the cloud business model canvas template that she has used to help more than 100 partners create a cloud business plan. She recommends that partners sell a Microsoft cloud solution plus partner services that could include migration, business intelligence, ongoing maintenance, integration, or customer training and support.

“You are selling a comprehensive business solution that stitches a variety of products and services together, not just the cloud stack. The more services you offer, the ‘stickier’ you become to your customers. Stitching software is the new game” – Chaitra Vedullapalli

• James Farhat from ACTS captivated the audience with examples on how he hacked his way to cloud transformation to earn gold competencies and gain visibility within Microsoft.

“The biggest things MSPs should focus on are PowerApps, Logic Apps, and Power BI.. With every customer request for custom build, partners need to think ‘Can I make it a product?’ ” – James Farhat

• Dan Gordon from Intivix and MyWorkDrive explained how a Managed Service Provider can create monthly recurring opportunities through intellectual property. He encouraged attendees to have a clear vision and revenue targets and set a timeframe to reach these goals.
• Dan Langille from QUADROtech shared his ideas for aligning your partner business to Microsoft objectives and the habits of successful Microsoft partners.

One of the habits of successful Microsoft partners that we encourage partners to establish during the Cloud Ready workshop is a cloud business goal that can be accomplished in the 100 days following the workshop. Here are some of the commitments workshop attendees made:

• DJ Das from Third Eye Consulting is determined to certify his Internet of Things solution Eyera on Microsoft Azure, complete a business plan to start selling his solution, and close a couple of new business accounts.
• Keith Parker from Parker Consulting is committed to building his cloud stack, selling Office 365 licenses, bringing Azure-based apps to the cloud marketplace, and working towards earning a gold cloud competency.
• Jasson Walker of cFocus Software, a federal government IT solutions provider is keen to build an executable go to market strategy for Authority to Operate ATOaaS and achieve their first Microsoft cloud competency.

Start your Cloud Ready journey

We are hosting another Cloud Ready workshop on December 8 in Bellevue, Washington, and planning to bring the Cloud Ready workshop to more US cities in early 2017. If you’re in the Seattle area, there are still a few seats available for the December 8 workshop. If you’re interested in our 2017 events, join the Cloud Ready Yammer group to stay informed about the schedule, connect to workshop attendees, and more.

You can get started today on your cloud journey by taking the cloud ready assessment to help you identify your current level of cloud readiness.

What’s your #100daytocloud commitment? Share your plans about building your #cloudready business with me by email at sharonl@microsoft.com, Twitter (@whatsup_sharon), LinkedIn, and Yammer.

Comments about this blog post, or questions about the topic? Let me know in the Cloud Ready Yammer group.

Pro všechny účastníky akce Skypeathon, zejména tedy pro žáky a studenty je připraven certifikát, který jim můžete upravit, rozdat a který dokládá jejich účast a počet nacestovaných kilometrů během této akce.

Stáhnout Skypeathon certifikát

Recently a customer reported an issue when using Manage Content and Structure (also known as Site Manager) to copy documents between different libraries. In the specific scenario the customer used the same managed metadata column in both libraries with different configuration (in one secenario a different default value and in a second scenario a different term set).

The copy operation worked fine here and the item was correctly copied over to the target library. But the caveat with this copy operation was that the settings of the managed metadata library column in the target library was changed to the value of the item copied from the source library. That means the default value of the column in the target library was updated to the current value of the source library for the first scenario and the term set bound to the managed metadata column was changed to the term set of the source library.

We analyzed the behavior and identified that this behavior is by design of the current implementation. Manage Content and Structur was not designed to deal with different List Schemas in Source and Target of a Copy or Move operation.

Supported scenarios for Site Content and Structure in SharePoint are documented in the following KB article:

• KB 317513 – Supported scenarios for Site Content and Structure in SharePoint and SharePoint Online.

The recommended workaround is to use “Open with Explorer” to copy items between different libraries in SharePoint 2013.

(この記事は 2016  年9 月29 日にMicrosoft Partner Network blog に掲載された記事 Finance Partners Empowering Digital Transformation の翻訳です。最新情報についてはリンク元のページをご参照ください。)

先月、HP が開催した初のグローバル パートナー カンファレンスにおいて Satya Nadella (英語) が講演を行い、あらゆる業界のチャネル パートナー様が現在デジタル変革というビジネス チャンスのさなかにあると述べました。「小売、銀行、医療など、どの業界の企業も、将来的には自社のことをデジタル企業と見なすようになるでしょう」と Nadella は語っています。

今週スイスのジュネーブで開催された、金融サービス業界の世界最大のイベント「Sibos (英語)」では、マイクロソフト パートナー様の多くが Nadella の主張が正しいことを裏付けています。世界中の大手銀行の 80% 以上 (英語) が Azure のお客様であることを考えると、マイクロソフト パートナー様が競合他社の動向に対処しながら、クラウドがもたらすビジネス チャンスをつかんで、金融サービス業界のビジネス変革を牽引していることは間違いありません。以下のセクションでは、特定業種への特化、ビジネス プロセスの見直し、データからインサイトへの変換、新しい画期的なテクノロジの活用といった戦略によって成功を収めているパートナー様の事例をご紹介します。

お客様に価値をもたらす

ビジネス リーダーは、新規のお客様や市場を発掘し、新しい製品やサービスを開発して、自社のビジネスのあり方や従業員の働き方を全面的に刷新したいと考えています。金融機関がこれを実現するためには、デジタルと対面による顧客サービスを組み合わせ、モバイル エクスペリエンスを積極的に活用して、インテリジェントにパーソナライズされた提案を行う必要があります。そうすることで、意思決定プロセスを進めているお客様のタイミングと場面に合わせてニーズを満たすことができます。

モバイル バンキングの例: テメノス

お客様に価値をもたらすと一口に言っても、それぞれのパートナー様で顧客市場は多岐にわたるため、その意味は大きく変わってきます。今日、全世界で 20 億以上の人々 (英語) が基本的なバンキング サービスを利用できずにいます。パートナー企業のテメノスは、複数の金融機関と協力して、発展途上国の人々にバンキング サービスを提供しています。Azure を利用して開発された Temenos のソフトウェアを使用することで、金融機関は世界中の辺境の地に住むお客様にサービスを提供することができます。実際に、Temenos がサービスを提供したお客様は、わずか 2 年で 1,000 万人に上ります。現在では、お客様の自宅や職場に融資担当者が出向き、Temenos ソフトウェアとマイクロソフトのクラウドを使用してスマートフォンやタブレットから安全な取引を行っています。

リテール バンキング アプリの例: Jack Henry Banking

その一方で、一定の年齢以上のほぼすべての人々が 1 つ以上の銀行口座を所有しているような市場もあります。米国もこれに該当し、過去 12 か月以内にメインの銀行を切り替えたお客様はミレニアル世代の 18%、35 ～ 54 歳の 10%、55 歳以上の 3% を占めているというデータも出ています (出典: Accenture、2015 年度北米コンシューマー向けデジタル バンキング調査 (英語))。このような市場のお客様に新たな価値をもたらすべく、Jack Henry Banking (英語) は Windows 用アプリ「Branch Anywhere」を開発しました。同社では、Microsoft Surface Pro 3 などのタブレットを利用して、行員が店舗でお客様に満足のいくサービスを提供する方法を変革し、顧客エクスペリエンスとサービス効率を向上させています。

顧客対応型のバンキング アプリの例: VeriPark

VeriPark (英語) のアプローチもまたユニークです。同社が開発した「Next Best Action (英語)」は、顧客対応として考えられるすべての行動を検討し、次に取るべき最適な対応を提案することで、成約の可能性や顧客満足度を高めるアプリであり、お客様を中心に据えた業界最先端のテクノロジです。このデジタル ソリューションにより、コール センター、支店、Web、メール、ソーシャル メディアなど、インバウンド マーケティングとアウトバウンド マーケティングのすべてのチャネルを連携させてインテリジェントなメッセージを伝えることができます。このソリューションは金融サービス業界を対象としており、銀行が規制を確実に遵守し、お客様中心のビジネス意思決定を下すことができるように設計されています。詳しくは、こちらのビデオ (英語) をご覧ください。

あらゆる業界のデジタル変革

部門間でデータを共有している金融サービス企業は 22% (英語) にとどまります。しかし、金融サービス企業は膨大な量の構造化データと非構造化データを所有しており、このデータは非常に貴重な資産でもあります。とは言え、このような資産を抱えているのは、金融サービス業界に限ったことではありません。すべての企業に膨大な量のデータと膨大な量のビジネス チャンスが眠っており、これを有用な情報に変換する必要があります。ここで重要なのは、いかにこれらの資産を活用してお客様に価値をもたらすかということです。

お客様に価値をもたらすために、皆様はどのような情報資産の活用方法を計画されていますか。皆様の業界での成功事例をご存じではありませんか。ぜひページ下部のコメント欄までお寄せください。

Years ago – I wrote a post on customizing the “Windows Computer” class, showing how to use registry keys to add properties to the “Windows Computer” class, to make creating custom groups much simpler.  You can read about the details of how and why here:  https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/kevinholman/2009/06/10/creating-custom-dynamic-computer-groups-based-on-registry-keys-on-agents/

I later updated that sample MP here:  https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/kevinholman/2016/12/04/extending-windows-computer-class-from-registry-keys-in-scom/

However, I was recently at a customer, and they felt stamping reg keys on all their servers would be too much work.  Additionally, they didn’t have a CMDB, or Authoritative system that recovered all their computers, and their important properties.  In this case, they used a spreadsheet for that.  So, I recommended we use a CSV based on their spreadsheet, to pull back this data into SCOM, using the CSV file as the authoritative record for their servers.

Here is an example of the CSV:

We can write an extended class of Windows Computer, and a script based discovery to read in this CSV, and add each column as a class property in SCOM.

Here is the class definition:

  <TypeDefinitions>
    <EntityTypes>
      <ClassTypes>
        <ClassType ID="DemoCSV.Windows.Computer.Extended.Class" Accessibility="Public" Abstract="false" Base="Windows!Microsoft.Windows.Computer" Hosted="false" Singleton="false" Extension="false">
          <Property ID="TIER" Type="string" AutoIncrement="false" Key="false" CaseSensitive="false" MaxLength="256" MinLength="0" Required="false" Scale="0" />
          <Property ID="GROUPID" Type="string" AutoIncrement="false" Key="false" CaseSensitive="false" MaxLength="256" MinLength="0" Required="false" Scale="0" />
          <Property ID="OWNER" Type="string" AutoIncrement="false" Key="false" CaseSensitive="false" MaxLength="256" MinLength="0" Required="false" Scale="0" />
        </ClassType>
      </ClassTypes>
    </EntityTypes>
  </TypeDefinitions>

The discovery will target the “All Management Servers Resource Pool” class.  This class is hosted by ONE of the management servers at any given time, and by doing this we will have high availability for the discovery workflow.

The script will read the CSV file, get the FQDN of each row in the CSV, then compare that to a list of all computers in SCOM.  If the computer exists in SCOM, it will add the properties to the discovery.  There is a “constants” section in the script for you to change relevant information:

#===============================
# Constants section – modify stuff here:
$CSVPath = “\servershareserverlist.csv”

Here is the script:

#=================================================================================
# Extend Windows Computer class from CSV
#=================================================================================

Param($SourceId,$ManagedEntityId)

# For testing discovery manually in PowerShell:
# $SourceId = '{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}'
# $ManagedEntityId = '{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}'

#=================================================================================
# Constants section - modify stuff here:
$CSVPath = "\servershareserverlist.csv"

# Assign script name variable for use in event logging
$ScriptName = "DemoCSV.Windows.Computer.Extended.Class.Discovery.Script.ps1"
#=================================================================================


#=================================================================================
# function Is-ClassMember
# Purpose:  To ensure we only return discovery data for computers that
#           already exist in SCOM, otherwise it will be rejected    
# Arguments: 
#  -$InstanceDisplayName - The name of the object instance like 'servername.domain.com'
#==================================================================================
function Is-ClassMember
  {
  param($InstanceDisplayName)
  If ($InstanceDisplayName -in $ComputerNames)
    {
    $value = "True"
    }
  Else
    {
    $value = "False"
    }
  Return $value
  }
# End of function Is-ClassMember




# Gather script start time
$StartTime = Get-Date

$MServer = $env:COMPUTERNAME

# Gather who the script is running as
$WhoAmI = whoami

# Load MOMScript API
$momapi = New-Object -comObject MOM.ScriptAPI

# Load SCOM Discovery module
$DiscoveryData = $momapi.CreateDiscoveryData(0, $SourceId, $ManagedEntityId)

# Log an event for the script starting              
$momapi.LogScriptEvent($ScriptName,7777,0, "Script is starting. Running, as $WhoAmI.")

# Clear any previous errors
if($Error)
  {
  $Error.Clear()
  }

# Import the OperationsManager module and connect to the management group
Try
  {
  $SCOMPowerShellKey = "HKLM:SOFTWAREMicrosoftSystem Center Operations Manager12SetupPowershellV2"
  $SCOMModulePath = Join-Path (Get-ItemProperty $SCOMPowerShellKey).InstallDirectory "OperationsManager"
  Import-module $SCOMModulePath
  }
Catch
  {
  $momapi.LogScriptEvent($ScriptName,7778,2, "Unable to load the OperationsManager module, Error is: $error")
  }
Try
  {
  New-DefaultManagementGroupConnection $MServer
  }
Catch
  {
  $momapi.LogScriptEvent($ScriptName,7778,2, "Unable to connect to the management server: $MServer.  Error when calling New-DefaultManagementGroupConnection.  Error is: $error")
  }


# Get all instances of a existing Windows Computer class
# We need this to check and make sure each computer in the CSV exists in SCOM or discvoery data will be rejected
  $WindowsComputers = Get-SCOMClass -DisplayName "Windows Computer" | Get-SCOMClassInstance
  $ComputerNames = $WindowsComputers.DisplayName
  $ComputerCount = $ComputerNames.count
# Log an event for command ending
  $momapi.LogScriptEvent($ScriptName,7777,0, "Get all Windows Computers has completed.  Returned $ComputerCount Windows Computers.")

# Clear any previous errors
if($Error)
  {
  $Error.Clear()
  }

#Test the CSV path and make sure we can read it:
  If (Test-Path $CSVPath)
    {
    # Log an event for CSV path good
    $momapi.LogScriptEvent($ScriptName,7777,0, "CSV file was found at $CSVPath")
    }
  Else
    {
    # Log an event for CSV path bad
    $momapi.LogScriptEvent($ScriptName,7778,2, "CSV file was NOT found at $CSVPath  This is a fatal script error, ending script.  Error is $Error")
    exit
    }

# Query the CSV file to get the servers and properties
  $CSVContents = Import-Csv $CSVPath

# Loop through the CSV and add discovery data for existing SCOM computers
  $i=0;
  foreach ($row in $CSVContents)
    {
    # Get the FQDN and assign it to a variable
    $FQDN = $row.FQDN

    #Check and see if the $FQDN value contains a computer that exists as a Windows Computer in SCOM
    $IsSCOMComputer = Is-ClassMember $FQDN
    If ($IsSCOMComputer -eq "True")
        {
        $i=$i+1
        # Get each property in your CSV and assign it to a variable
        $TIER = $row.TIER
        $GROUPID = $row.GROUPID
        $OWNER = $row.OWNER

        # Create discovery data for each computer that exists in both the CSV and SCOM
        $Inst = $DiscoveryData.CreateClassInstance("$MPElement[Name='DemoCSV.Windows.Computer.Extended.Class']$")
        $Inst.AddProperty("$MPElement[Name='Windows!Microsoft.Windows.Computer']/PrincipalName$", $FQDN)
        $Inst.AddProperty("$MPElement[Name='DemoCSV.Windows.Computer.Extended.Class']/TIER$", $TIER)
        $Inst.AddProperty("$MPElement[Name='DemoCSV.Windows.Computer.Extended.Class']/GROUPID$", $GROUPID)
        $Inst.AddProperty("$MPElement[Name='DemoCSV.Windows.Computer.Extended.Class']/OWNER$", $OWNER)
        $DiscoveryData.AddInstance($Inst)
        } #End If
    } #End foreach


# Return Discovery Items
  $DiscoveryData

# Return Discovery Bag to the command line for testing (does not work from ISE):
# $momapi.Return($DiscoveryData)

$CSVMatchComputerCount = $i
$CSVRowCount = $CSVContents.Count

# End script and record total runtime
$EndTime = Get-Date
$ScriptTime = ($EndTime - $StartTime).TotalSeconds
# Log an event for script ending and total execution time.
$momapi.LogScriptEvent($ScriptName,7777,0, "Script has completed.  CSV returned $CSVRowCount computers.  SCOM returned $ComputerCount Computers.  Discovery returned $CSVMatchComputerCount matching computers from the CSV and SCOM.  Runtime was $ScriptTime seconds")

You will need to change the path of the script file, and make sure your management server action account has read permissions to the share and file.

You can review the discovery data in discovered inventory:

I also added rich logging to the script to understand what is happening:

Log Name:      Operations Manager
Source:        Health Service Script
Date:          12/4/2016 2:53:18 PM
Event ID:      7777
Level:         Information
Computer:      SCOMA1.opsmgr.net
Description:
DemoCSV.Windows.Computer.Extended.Class.Discovery.Script.ps1 : Script has completed.  CSV returned 5 computers.  SCOM returned 26 Computers.  Discovery returned 5 matching computers from the CSV and SCOM.  Runtime was 5.8906066 seconds

I am attaching the sample MP file, along with the sample CSV registry file, at the following location:

https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Extend-Windows-Computer-ed54075c

Years ago – I wrote a post on customizing the “Windows Computer” class, showing how to use registry keys to add properties to the “Windows Computer” class, to make creating custom groups much simpler.  You can read about the details of how and why here:  https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/kevinholman/2009/06/10/creating-custom-dynamic-computer-groups-based-on-registry-keys-on-agents/

I later updated that sample MP here:  https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/kevinholman/2016/12/04/extending-windows-computer-class-from-registry-keys-in-scom/

I also provided a sample of doing the same thing from a CSV file:  https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/kevinholman/2016/12/04/extending-windows-computer-class-from-a-csv-file-in-scom/

This post will demonstrate how to extend the Windows Computer class using a SQL database (CMDB) as the source for the class properties.  This is incredibly useful if you have an authoritative record of all servers, and important properties that you would like to use for grouping in SCOM.

Here is an example of my test CMDB:

We can write an extended class of Windows Computer, and a script based discovery to read in these tables by sending a query to a SQL DB, and add each returned column as a class property in SCOM.

Here is the class definition:

  <TypeDefinitions>
    <EntityTypes>
      <ClassTypes>
        <ClassType ID="DemoCMDB.Windows.Computer.Extended.Class" Accessibility="Public" Abstract="false" Base="Windows!Microsoft.Windows.Computer" Hosted="false" Singleton="false" Extension="false">
          <Property ID="TIER" Type="string" AutoIncrement="false" Key="false" CaseSensitive="false" MaxLength="256" MinLength="0" Required="false" Scale="0" />
          <Property ID="GROUPID" Type="string" AutoIncrement="false" Key="false" CaseSensitive="false" MaxLength="256" MinLength="0" Required="false" Scale="0" />
          <Property ID="OWNER" Type="string" AutoIncrement="false" Key="false" CaseSensitive="false" MaxLength="256" MinLength="0" Required="false" Scale="0" />
        </ClassType>
      </ClassTypes>
    </EntityTypes>
  </TypeDefinitions>

The discovery will target the “All Management Servers Resource Pool” class.  This class is hosted by ONE of the management servers at any given time, and by doing this we will have high availability for the discovery workflow.

The script will read the SQL DB via query, get the FQDN of each row in the database, then compare that to a list of all computers in SCOM.  If the computer exists in SCOM, it will add the properties to the discovery.  There is a “constants” section in the script for you to change relevant information:

#======================================================
# Constants section – modify stuff here:
$SQLServer = “SQL2A.opsmgr.net”
$SQLDBName =  “CMDB”
$SqlQuery = “SELECT FQDN, TIER, GROUPID, OWNER FROM [dbo].[ServerList] ORDER BY FQDN”

Here is the script:

#=================================================================================
# Extend Windows Computer class from CMDB
#=================================================================================

Param($SourceId,$ManagedEntityId)

# For testing discovery manually in PowerShell:
# $SourceId = '{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}'
# $ManagedEntityId = '{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000}'

#=================================================================================
# Constants section - modify stuff here:
$SQLServer = "SQL2A.opsmgr.net"
$SQLDBName =  "CMDB"
$SqlQuery = "SELECT FQDN, TIER, GROUPID, OWNER FROM [dbo].[ServerList] ORDER BY FQDN"

# Assign script name variable for use in event logging
$ScriptName = "DemoCMDB.Windows.Computer.Extended.Class.Discovery.Script.ps1"
#=================================================================================


#=================================================================================
# function Is-ClassMember
# Purpose:  To ensure we only return discvoery data for computers that
#     already exist in SCOM, otherwise it will be rejected    
# Arguments: 
#  -$InstanceDisplayName - The name of the object instance like 'servername.domain.com'
#==================================================================================
function Is-ClassMember
  {
  param($InstanceDisplayName)
  If ($InstanceDisplayName -in $ComputerNames)
    {
    $value = "True"
    }
  Else
    {
    $value = "False"
    }
  Return $value
  }
# End of function Is-ClassMember


# Gather script start time
$StartTime = Get-Date

$MServer = $env:COMPUTERNAME

# Gather who the script is running as
$WhoAmI = whoami

# Load MOMScript API
$momapi = New-Object -comObject MOM.ScriptAPI

# Load SCOM Discovery module
$DiscoveryData = $momapi.CreateDiscoveryData(0, $SourceId, $ManagedEntityId)

# Log an event for the script starting              
$momapi.LogScriptEvent($ScriptName,8888,0, "Script is starting. Running, as $WhoAmI.")

# Clear any previous errors
if($Error)
  {
  $Error.Clear()
  }

# Import the OperationsManager module and connect to the management group
Try
  {
  $SCOMPowerShellKey = "HKLM:SOFTWAREMicrosoftSystem Center Operations Manager12SetupPowershellV2"
  $SCOMModulePath = Join-Path (Get-ItemProperty $SCOMPowerShellKey).InstallDirectory "OperationsManager"
  Import-module $SCOMModulePath
  }
Catch
  {
  $momapi.LogScriptEvent($ScriptName,8889,2, "Unable to load the OperationsManager module, Error is: $error")
  }
Try
  {
  New-DefaultManagementGroupConnection $MServer
  }
Catch
  {
  $momapi.LogScriptEvent($ScriptName,8889,2, "Unable to connect to the management server: $MServer.  Error when calling New-DefaultManagementGroupConnection.  Error is: $error")
  }


# Get all instances of a existing Windows Computer class
# We need this to check and make sure each computer in the CMDB exists in SCOM or discovery data will be rejected
  $WindowsComputers = Get-SCOMClass -DisplayName "Windows Computer" | Get-SCOMClassInstance
  $ComputerNames = $WindowsComputers.DisplayName
  $ComputerCount = $ComputerNames.count
# Log an event for command ending
  $momapi.LogScriptEvent($ScriptName,8888,0, "Get all Windows Computers has completed.  Returned $ComputerCount Windows Computers.")

# Clear any previous errors
if($Error)
  {
  $Error.Clear()
  }

# Query the CMDB database to get the servers and properties
  $SqlConnection = New-Object System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection
  $SqlConnection.ConnectionString = “Server=$SQLServer;Database=$SQLDBName;Integrated Security=True”
  $SqlCmd = New-Object System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand
  $SqlCmd.CommandText = $SqlQuery
  $SqlCmd.Connection = $SqlConnection
  $SqlAdapter = New-Object System.Data.SqlClient.SqlDataAdapter
  $SqlAdapter.SelectCommand = $SqlCmd
  $ds = New-Object System.Data.DataSet
  $SqlAdapter.Fill($ds)
  $SqlConnection.Close()

$i=0;
$j=0;
foreach ($row in $ds.Tables[0].Rows)
  {
  $i = $i+1
  $FQDN = $row[0].ToString().Trim()

  $IsSCOMComputer = Is-ClassMember $FQDN
  If($IsSCOMComputer -eq "True")
    {
    $j=$j+1
    $TIER = $row[1].ToString().Trim()
    $GROUPID = $row[2].ToString().Trim()
    $OWNER = $row[3].ToString().Trim()

    # Create discovery data for each computer that exists in both the CMDB and SCOM
    $Inst = $DiscoveryData.CreateClassInstance("$MPElement[Name='DemoCMDB.Windows.Computer.Extended.Class']$")
    $Inst.AddProperty("$MPElement[Name='Windows!Microsoft.Windows.Computer']/PrincipalName$", $FQDN)
    $Inst.AddProperty("$MPElement[Name='DemoCMDB.Windows.Computer.Extended.Class']/TIER$", $TIER)
    $Inst.AddProperty("$MPElement[Name='DemoCMDB.Windows.Computer.Extended.Class']/GROUPID$", $GROUPID)
    $Inst.AddProperty("$MPElement[Name='DemoCMDB.Windows.Computer.Extended.Class']/OWNER$", $OWNER)
    $DiscoveryData.AddInstance($Inst)
    } #End If
  } #End foreach

# Return Discovery Items
$DiscoveryData

# Return Discovery Bag to the command line for testing (does not work from ISE):
# $momapi.Return($DiscoveryData)

$CMDBMatchComputerCount = $j
$CMDBRowCount = $i

# End script and record total runtime
$EndTime = Get-Date
$ScriptTime = ($EndTime - $StartTime).TotalSeconds
# Log an event for script ending and total execution time.
$momapi.LogScriptEvent($ScriptName,8888,0, "Script has completed.  CMDB returned $CMDBRowCount computers.  SCOM returned $ComputerCount Computers.  Discovery returned $CMDBMatchComputerCount matching computers from the CMDB and SCOM.  Runtime was $ScriptTime seconds")

You will need to change the SQL server name, DB name, and query, along with adding/changing the properties you want in the relevant sections.

You can review the discovery data in discovered inventory:

I also added rich logging to the script to understand what is happening:

Log Name:      Operations Manager
Source:        Health Service Script
Date:          12/4/2016 3:00:30 PM
Event ID:      8888
Level:         Information
Computer:      SCOMA1.opsmgr.net
Description:
DemoCMDB.Windows.Computer.Extended.Class.Discovery.Script.ps1 : Script has completed.  CMDB returned 8 computers.  SCOM returned 26 Computers.  Discovery returned 6 matching computers from the CMDB and SCOM.  Runtime was 5.7812508 seconds

I am attaching the sample MP file, along with the sample CSV registry file, at the following location:

https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Extend-Windows-Computer-13486493

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• Three steps for a smoother competency renewal process
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Plan ahead for training into January 2017

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Consider the scenario –  you want to monitor the event logs for a specific event, however, this event has a tendency to “storm” or log hundreds of events in a short time window.  Not a good condition for a monitoring system, as you can quickly overwhelm the system, nor do you want hundreds or thousands of alerts for a single condition.

The traditional approach to this would be to enable “Alert Suppression” which will increment a repeat counter on the alert.  This has a few negative effects:

1.  You still overwhelm the monitoring system, as you have to write this incremented counter to both the OpsDB and the DW.  Although this is not as expensive and creating multiple individual alerts, it still has significant impact.

2.  You will only get a notification on your FIRST alert.  All subsequent alerts will increment the counter, but you will never get another email/ticket on this again, as long as the original alert is still open.

Another approach – is to use a consolidator condition detection.  This is similar to the solution I provided here:  https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/kevinholman/2014/12/18/creating-a-repeated-event-detection-rule/

The different, however, is instead of waiting for a specific “count” of events to fire in a specific time window, this example will do the following:

1. Wait for the event to exist in the event log.
2. Start a timer upon the first event, then wait for the timer to expire
3. Create an alert for the event(s), no matter if there was a single event or thousands of events in the timed window.

The XML is fairly simple for this.  We will have the following components:

1. Event datasource  (Microsoft.Windows.EventProvider)
2. Consolidation Condition Detection  (System.ConsolidatorCondition)
3. Alert Write Action   (System.Health.GenerateAlert)

Here is the datasource:   we simply look for event ID “123”

      <Rule ID="Demo.AlertOnConsolidatedEvent.Event123.Alert.Rule" Enabled="true" Target="Windows!Microsoft.Windows.Server.OperatingSystem" ConfirmDelivery="true" Remotable="true" Priority="Normal" DiscardLevel="100">
        <Category>Alert</Category>
        <DataSources>
          <DataSource ID="DS" TypeID="Windows!Microsoft.Windows.EventProvider">
            <ComputerName>$Target/Host/Property[Type="Windows!Microsoft.Windows.Computer"]/NetworkName$</ComputerName>
            <LogName>Application</LogName>
            <Expression>
              <SimpleExpression>
                <ValueExpression>
                  <XPathQuery Type="UnsignedInteger">EventDisplayNumber</XPathQuery>
                </ValueExpression>
                <Operator>Equal</Operator>
                <ValueExpression>
                  <Value Type="UnsignedInteger">123</Value>
                </ValueExpression>
              </SimpleExpression>
            </Expression>
          </DataSource>
        </DataSources>

Here is the condition detection.  Notice there is no counting condition, simply the timer window, where my example uses 30 seconds.

        <ConditionDetection ID="CD" TypeID="System!System.ConsolidatorCondition">
          <Consolidator>
            <ConsolidationProperties>
            </ConsolidationProperties>
            <TimeControl>
              <WithinTimeSchedule>
                <Interval>30</Interval>
                <!-- seconds -->
              </WithinTimeSchedule>
            </TimeControl>
            <CountingCondition>
              <CountMode>OnNewItemNOP_OnTimerOutputRestart</CountMode>
            </CountingCondition>
          </Consolidator>
        </ConditionDetection>

And finally – a simple write action to generate the alert:

        <WriteActions>
          <WriteAction ID="WA" TypeID="Health!System.Health.GenerateAlert">
            <Priority>1</Priority>
            <Severity>1</Severity>
            <AlertMessageId>$MPElement[Name="Demo.AlertOnConsolidatedEvent.Event123.Alert.Rule.AlertMessage"]$</AlertMessageId>
            <AlertParameters>
              <AlertParameter1>$Data/Count$</AlertParameter1>
              <AlertParameter2>$Data/TimeWindowStart$</AlertParameter2>
              <AlertParameter3>$Data/TimeWindowEnd$</AlertParameter3>
              <AlertParameter4>$Data/Context/DataItem/EventDescription$</AlertParameter4>
            </AlertParameters>
          </WriteAction>

When I fire off a LOT of Event ID 123 events:

eventcreate /T ERROR /ID 123 /L APPLICATION /SO TEST /D “This is a Test event 123”

I only get a single, consolidated Alert, after the 30 second time window expires:

I will attach the entire MP example here:

https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/SCOM-Alerting-on-Events-930464cc

Welcome back for another analysis of contributions to TechNet Wiki over the last week.

First up, the weekly leader board snapshot…

As always, here are the results of another weekly crawl over the updated articles feed.

Most Revisions Award Who has made the most individual revisions

#1 Edward van Biljon with 168 revisions.

#2 Peter Geelen with 53 revisions.

#3 Hansamali with 31 revisions.

Just behind the winners but also worth a mention are:

#4 Ryen Kia Zhi Tang with 26 revisions.

#5 Chervine with 21 revisions.

#6 Karthik [MSFT] with 16 revisions.

#7 pituach with 16 revisions.

#8 Waqas Sarwar(MCSE 2013) with 15 revisions.

#9 Sandeep Shekhawat with 12 revisions.

#10 Burak Ugur with 11 revisions.

Most Articles Updated Award Who has updated the most articles

#1 Edward van Biljon with 165 articles.

#2 Peter Geelen with 23 articles.

#3 Ryen Kia Zhi Tang with 11 articles.

Just behind the winners but also worth a mention are:

#4 Richard Mueller with 9 articles.

#5 Burak Ugur with 9 articles.

#6 pituach with 6 articles.

#7 Ken Cenerelli with 6 articles.

#8 Sabah Shariq with 6 articles.

#9 Waqas Sarwar(MCSE 2013) with 5 articles.

#10 José Diz with 4 articles.

Longest Article Award Biggest article updated this week

This week’s largest document to get some attention is WPF Navigation Pane, by pierosbressa

This week’s revisers were Richard Mueller & pierosbressa

What a great swathe of code! Long indeed. Thanks pierosbressa!

Most Revised Article Award Article with the most revisions in a week

This week’s most fiddled with article is Create a Web API application in ASP.NETCore, by Hansamali. It was revised 19 times last week.

This week’s revisers were Sabah Shariq, Hansamali & SharadVerma

Busy, busy, busy Hansamali! Nice to see your work.

Most Popular Article Award Collaboration is the name of the game!

The article to be updated by the most people this week is TechNet Guru Competitions – November 2016, by Peter Geelen

As usual, some most awesome contributions from some big hitters and new names!

This week’s revisers were Sabah Shariq, Peter Geelen, pituach, Vincent Maverick Durano, Chervine, Jeff Ingalls, Ryen Kia Zhi Tang, Wim Beck, Sibeesh Venu, Nick Hogarth, Sandeep Shekhawat, Waqas Sarwar(MCSE 2013) & chilberto

As Guru often wins, the article to be updated by the SECOND most people this week is TechNet Guru: The Most Frequent Award Winners, by Ed Price – MSFT

Ed giving praise to those who give their time and love so that we may all grow a little wiser.

This week’s revisers were Bhushan Gawale, Sandeep Shekhawat, SYEDSHANU & Wim Beck

Ninja Edit Award A ninja needs lightning fast reactions!

Below is a list of this week’s fastest ninja edits. That’s an edit to an article after another person

• Revision 1 of High Risk Delivery Pool and troubleshooting involved was saved by Burak Ugur just 1 minute after Jhaneefa

  Congratulations to Burak Ugur! Excellent time!
  Also in the top ten are:

• Revision 40 of TechNet Guru Competitions – November 2016 was saved by pituach just 4 minutes after Vincent Maverick Durano

• Revision 32 of TechNet Guru Competitions – November 2016 was saved by Sandeep Shekhawat just 6 minutes after Waqas Sarwar(MCSE 2013)
• Revision 43 of TechNet Guru Competitions – November 2016 was saved by Peter Geelen just 9 minutes after pituach
• Revision 133 of TechNet Guru: The Most Frequent Award Winners was saved by SYEDSHANU just 67 minutes after Wim Beck
• Revision 38 of TechNet Guru Competitions – November 2016 was saved by Chervine just 69 minutes after Jeff Ingalls
• Revision 33 of Create a Web API application in ASP.NETCore was saved by SharadVerma just 130 minutes after Hansamali
• Revision 37 of TechNet Guru Competitions – November 2016 was saved by Jeff Ingalls just 172 minutes after Ryen Kia Zhi Tang
• Revision 35 of TechNet Guru Competitions – November 2016 was saved by Wim Beck just 174 minutes after Sibeesh Venu
• Revision 36 of TechNet Guru Competitions – November 2016 was saved by Ryen Kia Zhi Tang just 272 minutes after Wim Beck 
  

  Winner Summary Let’s celebrate our winners!

   

  Below are a few statistics on this week’s award winners.

  Most Revisions Award Winner
  The reviser is the winner of this category.

  Edward van Biljon

  Ed (DareDevil57) has been interviewed on TechNet Wiki!

  • 02 Feb ’15: interview-with-a-wiki-ninja-mcc-and-exchange-expert-ed-daredevil57

  Ed (DareDevil57) has won 54 previous Top Contributor Awards. Most recent five shown below:

  • 04 Dec ’16: Most Revisions Award
  • 04 Dec ’16: Most Articles Updated Award
  • 27 Nov ’16: Most Revisions Award
  • 27 Nov ’16: Most Articles Updated Award
  • 01 Oct ’16: Most Revisions Award

  Ed (DareDevil57) has not yet had any featured articles or TechNet Guru medals (see below)

  Ed (DareDevil57)’s profile page

  Most Articles Award Winner
  The reviser is the winner of this category.

  Edward van Biljon

  Edward van Biljon is mentioned above.

  Most Updated Article Award Winner
  The author is the winner, as it is their article that has had the changes.

  Fernando Lugão Veltem

  Fernando Lugão Veltem has won 52 previous Top Contributor Awards. Most recent five shown below:

  • 04 Dec ’16: Most Updated Article Award for instalacao-e-configuracao-do-monitoring-server-role-pt-br
  • 14 Aug ’16: Most Updated Article Award for azure-network-security-group
  • 17 Jan ’16: Most Popular Article Award for agenda-de-publicacoes-no-blog-wiki-ninjas-brasil
  • 25 Jul ’15: Ninja Edit Award for technet.microsof
  • 24 May ’15: Most Popular Article Award for agenda-de-publicacoes-no-blog-wiki-ninjas-brasil

  Fernando Lugão Veltem has not yet had any interviews, featured articles or TechNet Guru medals (see below)

  Fernando Lugão Veltem’s profile page

  Longest Article Award Winner
  The author is the winner, as it is their article that is so long!

  pierosbressa

  This is the first Top Contributors award for pierosbressa on TechNet Wiki! Congratulations pierosbressa!

  pierosbressa has not yet had any interviews, featured articles or TechNet Guru medals (see below)

  pierosbressa’s profile page

  Most Revised Article Winner
  The author is the winner, as it is their article that has ben changed the most

  Hansamali

  Hansamali has won 4 previous Top Contributor Awards:

  • 04 Dec ’16: Most Revisions Award
  • 04 Dec ’16: Most Revised Article Award for create-a-web-api-application-in-asp-netcore
  • 27 Nov ’16: Most Revisions Award
  • 27 Nov ’16: Most Revised Article Award for create-a-web-api-application-in-asp-netcore

  Hansamali has not yet had any interviews, featured articles or TechNet Guru medals (see below)

  Hansamali’s profile page

  Most Popular Article Winner
  The author is the winner, as it is their article that has had the most attention.

  Peter Geelen

  Peter Geelen has been interviewed on TechNet Wiki!

  • 26 Dec ’11: interview-with-a-forefront-identity-manager-mvp-peter-geelen-wiki-tips-experiences-amp-tips-on-becoming-an-mvp

  Peter Geelen has featured articles on TechNet Wiki!

  • 19 Aug ’11: Wiki: How to Automatically Add a Table of Contents (TOC) to Your TechNet Wiki Article
  • 05 Sep ’11: Forefront Identity Manager Resources
  • 03 Jan ’12: FIM 2010 Wiki Articles
  • 08 May ’12: How to Use PowerShell to Create a Wiki Catalog Page
  • 09 Mar ’13: FIM 2010 Software Solutions from Partners
  • 11 Apr ’15: Wiki Governance: Copyright, Privacy & Piracy
  • 31 Dec ’15: Wiki Governance: Copyright, Privacy & Piracy

  Peter Geelen has won 142 previous Top Contributor Awards. Most recent five shown below:

  • 04 Dec ’16: Most Revisions Award
  • 04 Dec ’16: Most Articles Updated Award
  • 04 Dec ’16: Most Popular Article Award for technet-guru-competitions-november-2016
  • 27 Nov ’16: Most Articles Updated Award
  • 27 Nov ’16: Most Popular Article Award for technet-guru-competitions-november-2016

  Peter Geelen has TechNet Guru medals, for the following articles:

  • In Nov ’14: Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) – Resource Portal
  • In Sep ’15: FIM 2010: Verifying the Sync Engine Security Groups
  • In Sep ’15: PowerShell: Event viewer statistics
  • In Jan ’16: FIM 2010: Planning security setup for accounts, groups and services – Part 1. Introduction
  • In Jan ’16: FIM 2010: Planning security setup for accounts, groups and services – Part 4. Detailed Description
  • In May ’16: FIM2010 / MIM2016: Run profile statistics with PowerShell and Excel Pivot Tables
  • In May ’16: FIM2010 / MIM2016: Run profile statistics with SQL and Excel Pivot Tables
  • In May ’16: Wiki: Fixing table layout (table right side off page)
  • In Jun ’16: Translation Wiki: Getting started
  • In Jun ’16: Wiki: Before you post your article – Quick check list
  • In Jun ’16: Microsoft Security Compliance Manager (SCM) Portal
  • In Jul ’16: Microsoft Identity Manager 2016 Handbook: Online Companion Guide
  • In Jul ’16: Wiki: Collection of Practical hints & tips for writing an article (from Wiki blog)
  • In Jul ’16: Wiki: Portal or Survival guide?
  • In Jul ’16: Best Practices for Internal AD Domain and Network Names

  Peter Geelen’s profile page

   

  Ed Price – MSFT

  Ed Price – MSFT has been interviewed on TechNet Wiki!

  • 05 Dec ’11: the-non-invisible-ninja-ed-price
  • 30 Jul ’12: interview-with-ed-price
  • 17 Jun ’13: interview-with-a-wiki-ninja-richard-and-ed

  Ed Price – MSFT has featured articles on TechNet Wiki!

  • 01 Jun ’11: Power Pivot Overview
  • 27 Oct ’11: DAX Resource Center
  • 03 Nov ’11: BizTalk Server 2010
  • 17 Nov ’11: Feature Requests for TechNet and MSDN Profiles and Social Platform Tools
  • 20 Dec ’11: How to Become an MVP or MCC
  • 07 Feb ’12: HomeGroup and IPv6 Troubleshooting Guide
  • 12 Mar ’12: SharePoint: Integrate Skype and Facebook Features
  • 09 May ’12: How to Become an MSDN or TechNet Forum Moderator/Answerer
  • 25 May ’12: How to Get Hyperlinks in Your Microsoft Forum Signature
  • 20 Jul ’12: The Different Roles in MSDN and TechNet Forums
  • 28 Aug ’12: How to Ban or Report a TechNet or MSDN User Account
  • 12 Oct ’12: Official Microsoft Forum Sites
  • 11 Jan ’13: Forum OP Tips: How to Ask a Question Efficiently in a TechNet/MSDN Forum
  • 22 Jan ’13: Wiki: User Experience Guidelines
  • 11 Feb ’13: TechNet Wiki: Technology Tags
  • 05 Mar ’13: Internet Explorer 9 (IE9): How to Set a Popup Window to Open in a New Tab
  • 08 Jun ’13: MSDN and TechNet Forum Support
  • 21 Oct ’13: Wiki: How to Report a TechNet Wiki Performance Issue
  • 16 Dec ’13: Interview with a Wiki Ninja

  Ed Price – MSFT has won 143 previous Top Contributor Awards. Most recent five shown below:

  • 04 Dec ’16: Most Popular Article Award for technet-guru-the-most-frequent-award-winners
  • 10 Jul ’16: Longest Article Award for small-basic-blog-authoring-schedule
  • 10 Jul ’16: Most Revised Article Award for the-unique-features-of-small-basic
  • 02 Jul ’16: Longest Article Award for small-basic-blog-authoring-schedule
  • 18 Apr ’16: Most Popular Article Award for wiki-ninjas-blog-authoring-schedule

  Ed Price – MSFT has TechNet Guru medals, for the following articles:

  • In Apr ’14: Power BI Portal
  • In May ’14: Programming Home Projects with Microsoft Small Basic: Chapter 1: Writing Programs Using Small Basic
  • In May ’14: Programming Home Projects with Microsoft Small Basic: Chapter 6: Flash Card Math Quiz Project
  • In Jun ’14: Yammer: Announcements Feature
  • In Jul ’14: Small Basic Survival Guide
  • In Sep ’14: Power BI Community Council
  • In Nov ’14: Small Basic Student Testimonies
  • In Dec ’14: Skype: How to Add Moderators/Administrators to a Chat Group
  • In Dec ’14: Skype Portal
  • In Jan ’15: Skype: Messaging Features
  • In Feb ’15: Small Basic: The History of the Logo Turtle
  • In Feb ’15: Small Basic: The History of the Logo Turtle
  • In Mar ’15: Small Basic on TechNet Gallery
  • In Apr ’15: Programming Games with Small Basic: Chapter 6: Tic Tac Toe Program
  • In Apr ’15: Live Meeting Portal
  • In Jul ’15: Small Basic Sample: Nesting Subroutines
  • In Jul ’15: Small Basic Sample: The Triangle Area Calculator
  • In Jul ’15: Wiki: System Center 2012 Configuration Manager Portal
  • In Aug ’15: Small Basic: Scientific Notation
  • In Sep ’15: Small Basic: Automatic Type Conversion
  • In Oct ’15: Microsoft Small Basic 1.2 Release Note
  • In Nov ’15: Small Basic: Using a Sentinel for Loop Control
  • In Dec ’15: Small Basic Sample: Leap Year Checker
  • In Jan ’16: Small Basic: Prime Sieve
  • In Feb ’16: Small Basic 1.2: Installation Guide
  • In Feb ’16: Small Basic: How to Publish Your Program
  • In Feb ’16: Wiki: Dynamics CRM Portal
  • In Mar ’16: Excel Portal

  Ed Price – MSFT’s profile page

  Ninja Edit Award Winner
  The author is the reviser, for it is their hand that is quickest!

  Burak Ugur

  Burak Ugur has won 4 previous Top Contributor Awards:

  • 04 Dec ’16: Ninja Edit Award for high-risk-delivery-pool-and-troubleshooting-involved
  • 27 Nov ’16: Ninja Edit Award for sharepoint-and-css-tricks-rounded-corner
  • 26 Sep ’16: Ninja Edit Award for skype-for-business-client-registration-process-through-hlb
  • 11 Sep ’16: Most Revisions Award

  Burak Ugur has not yet had any interviews, featured articles or TechNet Guru medals (see below)

  Burak Ugur’s profile page

   

  What a load of winners! Them and us! More next week, maybe a new host too?

   

  Best regards,
  Pete Laker (Wiki Warrior & Azure MVP)

   

  • More about TechNet Wiki Ninja Belts
  • Get nominated for a TechNet Wiki Featured Article
  • More about being interviewed on TechNet Wiki blogs
  • And if you want to get listed HERE, you’d better get busy!

Welcome to the November 27 – December 3, 2016 edition of the O365 Weekly Digest. Lots of Skype for Business information this week, including a new Meeting Migration Service, as well as new options for Exchange Online migrations, what’s new with O365 ProPlus and Power BI related items are also included. With 2016 coming to a close, be sure to check out the events section, especially with the return of the Azure Active Directory webinars.

MESSAGE CENTER

Note: The information below may not be posted to your Office 365 tenant as not all notifications apply to all tenants. 

Updated Feature: Important change in Admin control for Docs.com

Posted: November 28, 2016 | Urgency: Normal | Category: Stay Informed | Action: Awareness | Docs.com is a consumer online service from Microsoft where users can publish and discover Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Sway, and PDF documents. We have recently enhanced the service to better ensure your organization’s security and privacy. As result, we are requiring that your Office 365 Tenant Administrator of record “opt-in” for your organization to continue enabling users with organizational accounts to use the service. As Docs.com is typically used to share information publicly and make it easily discoverable by search engines, we want to make sure that Office 365 customers are fully aware of the benefits and risks of using the service. “Opting in” means that any user will be able to sign-in into Docs.com with their work or school account and use it to share content with people using one of the following categories: (1) Organization: Sharing only with signed in users from the same organization, (2) Limited: Sharing a link that is not exposed to search engines by Docs.com but can be viewed by anyone who knows the link URL and (3) Public: Sharing openly including with search engines. We have also made improvements to ensure that when users choose to share publicly, they see the permission setting at least twice and need to manually confirm that their information will appear on the internet and in search engines. No actions are needed if your organization chooses to prohibit your users from signing-in to or publishing documents on Docs.com with their work or school accounts. If your organization has users who have used Docs.com to share documents in the past, they will not be able to modify their Docs.com pages or content unless you choose to opt-in beginning today. Should your organization prefer to remove all of your organization’s content from Docs.com please have the tenant administrator of record contact Docscom@microsoft.com with a statement to that effect and we will have it removed within 2 business days. For opt-in access instructions and to learn more, please visit https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=836570.

New Feature: Meeting Migration Service for Skype for Business Online

Posted: November 28, 2016 | Urgency: Normal | Category: Stay Informed | Action: Awareness | Meeting Migration Service for Skype for Business Online is a new Office 365 feature. You’ll begin seeing this new feature starting today with rollout expecting to be completed by mid-December, 2016. The Meeting Migration Service is an automated service that replaces the Skype for Business Meeting Migration Tool users have historically had to run on a one-off basis after migrations. The new Meeting Migration Service will automatically update meetings when moving users to Skype for Business Online from an existing on-premises Lync or Skype deployment or when adding Microsoft as a PSTN conferencing provider for Skype for Business Online users. The new Meeting Migration Service feature does require Exchange Online. While you do not need to do anything, we recommend you update your user training, and notify your helpdesk given this feature replaces a tool users may have been requested to run in the past. This feature does have administrative controls to enable and disable and is On by default. Please visit https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=836561 for additional information. | Additional Resources: Skype Academy Training for Meeting Migration Service

New Feature: SmartFilters for SharePoint Online

Posted: November 30, 2016 | Urgency: Normal | Category: Stay Informed | Action: Awareness | SmartFilters for SharePoint Online is a new Office 365 feature. First Release tenants will start seeing this feature beginning today and rolling out over the coming weeks, followed by worldwide rollout expected by the end of January, 2017. SmartFilter is an easier and faster way to find items within a list or library. This feature will improve column filtering workflows within lists and document libraries by allowing users to easily set multiple filters at once. To access this feature, a user can select the filter icon on the top right of a list or library and open the Smartfilter panel. Please visit https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=836912 for more details.

Mozilla removing support for Silverlight effective March 2017

Posted: November 30, 2016 | Urgency: Normal | Category: Prevent or Fix Issues | Action: Awareness | Mozilla, maker of the Firefox Browser, is removing support for Silverlight in version 52 of the Firefox browser, effective March, 2017. Administrators will no longer be able to login to the existing Intune console using Firefox versions greater than 51. We recommend using Internet Explorer 10 or 11 to access the administrative console, or a version of Firefox prior to version 52. Learn more at https://aka.ms/firefoxbrowser.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Azure Active Directory Webinars for December

When: Multiple sessions currently scheduled through December 14, 2016 | Are you looking to deploy Azure Active Directory quickly and easily? We are offering free webinar briefings on key Azure Active Directory deployment topics! Sessions include: Getting Ready for Azure AD, Streamlining Password Management, Securing Your Identities with Multi-Factor Authentication, Managing Enterprise Applications and Accessing Your Organization’s Internal Apps. Each 1-hour or 75-minute webinar is designed to support IT Pros in quickly rolling out Azure Active Directory features to their organization. All webinars are free of cost and will include an anonymous Q&A session with our Engineering Team. So come with your questions!  Capacity is limited. Sign up for one or all of the sessions today!

Microsoft IT Showcase: Skype for Business at Microsoft – SME Roundtable December 2016

When: December 7, 2016 at 10:00am PT | IT Showcase brings together subject matter experts from our Skype for Business at Microsoft course to answer your questions about how Microsoft IT implements, maintains, and supports Skype for Business at Microsoft. Get candid answers from our experts as they share insights and Skype for Business best practices developed by Microsoft IT.

Power BI: Ask Microsoft Anything (AMA)

When: December 8, 2016 at 10:00am PT | We are pleased to announce a Power BI Ask Microsoft Anything (AMA) on the Power BI Community! This is your opportunity to ask questions and share feedback directly with the Power BI product team. The AMA will take place in the Power BI Community AMA board on Thursday, December 8, 2016 from 10:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M.PST. Add the event to your calendar here. An Ask Microsoft Anything (AMA) is the same as an “Ask Me Anything (AMA)” on Reddit, or YamJam on Yammer. It provides the opportunity for the community to ask questions and have a discussion with a panel of internal and external experts on a particular topic. In order to get the best value out of this hour, take a look at the flow & etiquette guidelines. We look forward to seeing you in the community and at the AMA!

Office Small Business Academy: New Year Inspiration – Taking the Leap into Entrepreneurship

When: Tuesday, December 13, 2016 @ 9:00am PT | Are you finally ready to be your own boss?  Take the leap into entrepreneurship with advice and business-minded motivation from our team of experts. In this episode, get strategies and expert advice for starting your new business in the new year. Plus, learn how to bring your presentations to life in a fraction of the time with PowerPoint Designer and Zoom—the newest additions to PowerPoint. | Episode Preview | Registration (direct link)

FastTrack Webinars: Learn how to do more, together

When: Multiple sessions currently scheduled through December 14, 2016 | Ask questions, learn shortcuts and find out how Office 365 can make you and your team more productive. Each webinar is a live, instructor-led session offered at multiple dates and times. Facilitated discussion follows each session, with opportunities to ask questions and discuss specific scenarios to you. Direct registration links for each webinar are provided below.

• Use Office 365 to achieve more: Discover how to get work done more efficiently with Office 365 | Video
• Your files anywhere: Discover new ways to achieve more by getting work done with your documents from anywhere | Video
• Make meetings matter: Discover how Office 365 can help you get the right people achieving more together by connecting online through Skype for Business | Video
• Bring your team together with Yammer: Discover how to successfully launch a Yammer Network within your organization | Video
• Get it done from anywhere: Discover how to access Outlook from anywhere and share your files to get things done in real time | Video
• Key roles in making Office 365 successful: Discover how different roles work together to execute a successful launch | Video
• Build awareness: Foster adoption of Office 365 in ways that matter to end users; understanding training resources and develop champions | Video

BLOG ROUNDUP

New to Office 365 in November—new collaboration capabilities and more

This month, we’re announcing several updates to the Office apps to help you easily and effectively collaborate with others. This includes real-time co-authoring in PowerPoint, the ability to upload attachments to the cloud directly from Outlook, mobile device notifications for activity on shared cloud documents for Word, Excel and PowerPoint as well as the addition of Shared with Me and Recent Folders tab in Word, Excel and PowerPoint.  Learn more about what’s new for Office 365 subscribers this month at: Office 2016 | Office for Mac | Office Mobile for Windows | Office for iPhone and iPad | Office on Android Phones and Tablets.

Merging intelligence with productivity—a demo tour of recent Office app updates

In this episode of Microsoft Mechanics, we look at the latest in intelligent Office app experiences spanning PowerPoint, Excel, Word, Outlook and the browser. Ben Walters presents how Office can bring in intelligence via the Microsoft Graph, Azure Machine Learning and Delve to save you time. | Video (direct link)

New Exchange Online migration options

We are in the process of rolling out a new migration experience that will greatly simplify your journey to Office 365 and Exchange Online. This new experience will help any customer running at least one Exchange 2010, 2013 and/or 2016 server on-premises to migrate to the cloud seamlessly. When you initiate the migration, we evaluate what you have configured already in Exchange Online and we walk you through the Hybrid Configuration Wizard to evaluate the on-premises environment. Once all the information on your current state is collected, we ask a couple of questions about your desired state (things like how fast you want to move to Exchange Online and whether you require advanced features). The hybrid wizard then walks you through the configuration needed to migrate your users to Exchange Online.

New cloud storage options for Office on Android

We are excited to announce that the Cloud Storage Partner Program (CSPP) is now available for the Office apps on Android devices. Office on Windows desktops has long supported partner integrations that let you open and edit documents from a wide variety of storage locations. The CSPP, previously available for Office on iOS and Office Online, ensures that Office is the best way to get work done on all platforms, wherever your documents are stored. It’s easy to add a cloud storage provider from the Add a place menu in the latest versions of Word, Excel and PowerPoint on Android. Then you can edit and share your documents stored with that provider as easily as you do with those stored on OneDrive. You can also launch Word, Excel or PowerPoint directly from the cloud storage provider’s app to edit your files, with changes automatically saved back to the cloud. Today, the list of available cloud storage options in Office for Android includes Dropbox, Box, Egnyte and 腾讯微云 (Tencent). We’ll add Citrix ShareFile, Edmodo and Learnium soon, and that list will continue to expand over time. Stay tuned for more.

Accessibility in Office 365—enabling greater digital inclusion

December 3rd marks the 2016 International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD), and this year’s theme focuses on laying the foundation for a future of greater inclusion for persons with disabilities. In honor of IDPD, we invite all Office 365 customers to lay the foundation for a more inclusive digital environment by discovering and using accessibility capabilities built into Office 365. Office 365 empowers you to communicate information to your colleagues and customers in a variety of ways: documents, presentations, spreadsheets, emails, chats, notes, videos and more. As you communicate, it is important to meet the diverse needs of your audience. Making your content accessible ensures it can be used without barriers by people with varying levels of vision, hearing, cognition and mobility. Office 365 applications receive regular updates to ensure they can be used seamlessly with assistive technologies and ease of access settings, as outlined in our 2016 accessibility roadmap. Also, new settings are built into applications to empower you to personalize your experiences to suit your needs.

NOTEWORTHY

Updated: Office 365 URLs and IP Address Ranges

November 28, 2016: Updates for Exchange Online, O365 Authentication and Identity, O365 Portal and Shared, Office Online and Exchange Online Protection. Details on the updates are available on the RSS feed and the complete list is located here. | Additional Resources: Managing Office 365 Endpoints, Content Delivery Networks and Client Connectivity.

A deeper look at Skype for Business integration with iOS CallKit

We recently announced deeper integration of Skype for Business with iOS devices using Apple’s CallKit framework, which enables a better experience for Skype for Business calls on the iPhone. The CallKit API with iOS 10 enables Skype for Business calls to work the same way as the native calling experience on iOS, allowing you to seamlessly extend your personal device as a business phone. Updates include answering Skype for Business calls from the lock screen, handling Skype for Business calls like any other call and built-in IT and user controls.

Skype Academy: Cloud PBX Auto Attendant (Preview) readiness training now available!

We’ve just published the latest Skype Academy training on Cloud PBX Auto Attendant, which is currently in Preview. Cloud PBX Auto Attendant is an intelligent virtual receptionist that helps callers navigate the system with interactive prompts. Currently Cloud PBX Auto Attendant is in Preview for Skype for Business Online. Watch the readiness session to learn what this functionality can do, what the user experience is, and how you can configure it.

O365 Support Corner: OneDrive for Business – Fixing credential issues

Format: Video (3 minutes) | Are you experiencing repeated credential pop-ups or different credential issues that might cause OneDrive for Business syncing issues?  In this short video, we’ll provide some steps that could help resolve these types of issues. The Office 365 Support Corner is intended to provide technical support insights and proactive guidance for Office 365.

Driving Power BI adoption in your organization – Learn how Microsoft does this at scale

At Microsoft leaders across the company have committed to fostering a data culture and are often asked how to drive this type of change. An internal program designed to drive adoption of Power BI internally has been at the center of this cultural shift. Through a combination of training, a comprehensive communication strategy, and user-centric features and design, BI@Microsoft drives adoption of our data culture with Power BI. This program enables our employees to use data visualization, business intelligence and statistical analysis in their day-today jobs. Employees were previously limited by a mindset that they didn’t have the technical skills or time necessary to model data. Or they thought the data was not available or accessible. The BI@Microsoft program has proven that data driven decisions are possible at every level of the organization, while also creating loyal fans that influence their teams to use data to make informed decisions. The purpose of this blog post is to explain how we drive adoption of Power BI at scale so that you can learn from our best practices and implement a similar method. That way you too can get the most value out of your Power BI licenses. Like you, we are always striving do more with less.  For that reason, our program is focused on reaching and influencing the behavior of employees at scale.

創鈺國際科技總經理賴鴻銓

4 年前，工業 4.0 只是口號，4 年後許多台灣製造業工廠仍然不知如何搭上這股大潮。專門協助台灣傳統廠數位轉型的創鈺國際科技總經理賴鴻銓說：「台灣工業 4.0 第一步，還是要從『人』開始改造。」

我們都以為，工業 4.0 就是在講機器自動化，該談如何發展軟體、做數據分析。但是，撇除掉所有新潮字眼，賴鴻銓認為，工業 4.0 是一個有溫度的改革，說到底還是要服務「人」，除了要把機器連網之外，整個對於工廠人員的管理方法也要隨之革新，而其中的關鍵就在 Beacon 佈置。

工業 4.0 要服務的是人，不是機器

這群人包含製造業工廠裡的管理者、工作人員、倉儲運輸人員。先從這群人的需求開始改造、優化，才能帶起整個工廠的智慧化。所以，在工廠 24 小時不停運轉的狀況下，各部門的人員什麼時候，在哪裡做了什麼事情，這些以前無法及時得知的資訊，在工業 4.0 時代下變成即時決策的關鍵。

數千名員工、機器、倉儲物料，要怎麼真正的有效管理？在工廠中，如何保障人力安全？機器故障時，該如何及時調派修理人力，讓生產線不至於延宕？幾千人的大廠在上班點名、緊急疏散時，如何有效安排動線？這一些都是台灣傳統製造廠會遇到的問題。

本來專注於軟體客製化開發服務的創鈺國際，曾為政府機關、博物館開發 Beacon 導覽系統，於去年開始與台灣電子大廠合作，開始開發以高精準度的 Beacon 去搜集廠房裡的機器、人員、配送車、儲料的即時數據。

5000 人大工廠，透過 Beacon 管理年產值可以加速提升至少 5%！

賴鴻銓表示，在高溫、高濕度、擁擠的工廠裡，若使用 wifi 定位會非常不準確，但是創鈺開發的 Beacon 定位技術誤差值在80 公分內，可顯示機器、車具、人員的位置、數據。從 Beacon 的研發、佈建到後期的資料統整，都是創鈺服務的一環。

這些數據、資訊全部都傳送到創鈺研發的統一管理平台，這就像一個即時的戰情會報室，可以清楚瞭解人機的動向，即使是5000 人大工廠也能非常機動的調配人力、物力。

賴鴻銓說：「目前某年花 20 億人力、物力成本的台灣大廠使用了我們這套系統，效能已經提升 5 %，這樣換算下來每年我們可幫大廠省下千萬台幣，而明年我們要拚產能提升 15 %。」

賴鴻銓認為，工業 4.0 要提升的其實是人與機器之間的互動關係。舉例來說，過往傳統紡織廠老師傅其實是靠「經驗」來校正機器，但風險就是這些經驗無法量化成 SOP 傳承給新進員工，但透過 Beacon 蒐集數據後，就能變成後進工程人員的判斷標準。

Beacon 新應用：一分鐘之內可以盤點十萬平公尺所有的工廠資產

再者，在機器眾多的工廠裡，只要有一個小螺絲鬆脫就可能造成生產線延宕。但是以前的工廠管理實務操作上，要及時找到工程師去修繕，並且妥善紀錄處理狀況是一個挑戰。賴鴻銓表示，甚至有機器故障三年，資料都沒有更新也沒人發現。不過透過創鈺提供的解決方案，這一些以往做不到的事情，都可瞬間完成。

他說：「不僅大工廠需要這樣的管理，中小型的工廠更需要。光拿點貨來講好了，透過 Beacon 點貨，一分鐘之內可以盤點十萬平公尺所有的資產，不用人員拿著 QR code 一個個慢慢掃。」

關懷員工上班狀況，工業 4.0 強調有溫度的人員管理

在生產線上的員工，多半會有因生理狀況不佳，或是因為領料領不到導致時間延宕等，人員無法真正發揮產能的「假性上班」狀況。根據商業週刊的報導，在美國，員工假性上班的成本，占工資成本比率將近四成。

為了照顧廠內員工、增進管理效率，創鈺的 Beacon 服務方案裡，也包含員工健康管理。每個員工手上都會有個 Beacon 手環，內有計步器、心跳增測器、血氧濃度、毒氣偵測，這些生理數字出狀況的時候，系統就可以馬上接收。甚至可以求救。

同時，透過監視器管理，把工廠地圖與監視畫面結合在一起，在意外發生、需要緊急疏散時，也可以馬上定位人員位置。

文章來源：科技報橘

新漢產品行銷經理羅仕昀

工作繁忙的羅先生想買輛好車來犒賞自己，在 Audi 賞車中心簽約成交的那瞬間，台灣業務一輸入訂單，八千多公里外的德國總部零時差收到資訊，系統開始備料排產能，算出交車時間。

這就是席捲全球的工業4.0精神。

從客戶端到工廠設備，從接單系統一路串連 CRM（Customer Relationship Management客戶關係管理）、ERP（Enterprise Resource Planning企業資源規劃）、庫存及供應鏈，所有數據資料串起來做資源最佳化配置。2000 年以來，由微軟、 Google、蘋果、IBM 等軟體巨人掀起的軟體創新革命成果，正逐步與硬體製造業合流。

在這股全球趨勢下，製造大國德國以國家的力量推動工業 4.0發展，同樣以製造立國的台灣，政府角色缺位下，民間能量卻沒等待，特別是以工業電腦為基礎的大廠，更是走在全球趨勢浪尖上。以無風扇工業電腦闖出名聲的台灣廠商新漢就是領導廠商之一。

新漢成立於 1992 年，已經在背後默默推動這波 4.0 浪潮很長一段時間，經營車載、物聯網、跟客戶包括西門子的系統整合商及各大機械製造商，專案深入到各工廠裡面。

新漢產品乍聽之下應用很多，到底核心是什麼？新漢產品行銷經理羅仕昀表示：「極簡化來說，新漢就是生產工業環境中所應用的電腦，要適應各種溫度、壓力等挑戰，並整合研發軟硬體，也有採用德國的軟體。」

業務預測不再虛報 智慧工廠備貨庫存大減一成

對很多製造業者來說，工業 4.0 這個名詞一直令人困惑，早在 2012 年德國率先把聯網工廠模式冠上「工業 4.0」這個名詞以前，很多工廠已經開始嘗試產線上的聯網升級，只有像德國大廠 Audi 這種等級的品牌工廠才能玩工業 4.0 嗎？羅仕昀的答案是：「中小企業更需要、更適合智慧化工廠的發展與佈建。」因為，對中小型工廠來說，成本效益更重要，而工業 4.0 的核心精神，智慧化工廠就是要加快故障處理的速度，增加產能，降低重複性的流程與人力支出。

羅仕昀以新漢的客戶案例來說明。一家專門製造金屬弓箭的客戶，生產線擁有 26 部機械，一分鐘生產一百個弓箭，一旦其中一台機械故障停機，從基層員工發現，往上報給產線主任、再往上報….看他們的人事結構需要幾層關卡，最後才來到廠長，但這個通報要是花了一個小時，停機產能就少了 6,000 個。但是這種傳統工廠智慧化之後，所有機械都連上電腦，不必透過層層通報，機器一發生故障，廠長就能即時知道哪台機器是何時停機的，已經停了多久，該如何處置，方便管理。

「最初級的智慧化工廠對企業而言，是庫存管理的高效益，因為數據聯網，客戶線上處理訂單，業務端在做下年度或季度預估時就不再需要虛報預估訂單，自然也就不需過度預備庫存，理想狀態至少會幫助工廠減少一成庫存備量，還能虛實整合，」羅仕昀得意的說。

不過，工業 4.0 深度效益，是更完整的虛實整合升級，也就是更完整的數據化發展。

羅仕昀解釋，所謂的數據化發展，其實就是把真實工廠中的物理量，利用大量感測器佈建與測量出來的結果，如紀錄壓力、二氧化碳、振動頻率、視覺檢查，這些收集起來就是大資料，連結資料庫去做分析就變成虛，也就是大數據，如此就能完成虛實合一的系統。

台灣中小企業工廠牛步轉型，世代淘汰賽恐邊緣化

智慧化工廠是趨勢，新漢站在台灣製造業數位化轉型的前線，卻看見台灣邊緣化的危機。

大企業在智慧化工廠轉型趨勢下，積極採用最新趨勢並不困難，因為自動化設備的製造品質一定比人工來的好，能有效大幅減少勞力成本，因此數位化轉型在這類型企業中，正在飛速發展；「但是全球工廠高達 6-7 成都屬於中小企業，這些中小企業主對數位化相對保守，工業 4.0 轉型速度偏慢。」

一切都與成本有關。羅仕昀解釋，因為維持原本的工廠人力結構，短期看起來不會增加成本，但是採用連網工業設備，需要花錢建置，而且說到轉變後的成效，中小型工廠近一年來才剛開始智慧化，各方面的優化數據還不多，再加上跨產業跨產品跨國家難以統計，要用很明確的證據來說服這些企業主，還有待時間累積數據，「但這是一個全球性的升級比賽，屆時，這些工廠恐怕都會因為製程落後，面臨邊緣化危機。」

在台灣，中小企業主的保守程度更甚於其他地區，邊緣化的隱憂更嚴重。

以新漢的經驗來看，到目前為止，能做的大多數還是停留在提供企業主諮詢、以及以實際工廠運作的沙盤推演模式，說明數位化轉型為什麼對企業長期營運競爭力至關重要。例如，工廠最怕單一機器影響整體生產，工廠裡面有一台機器停擺，不論進度停在那個流程，最嚴重的後果是停機前面的製程也會跟著受到影響，像是餅乾製作過程中，屬於尾端的包裝機如果發生包裝袋破掉，餅乾碎裂，造成包裝機堵住停擺，前面的生產線也要跟著停下來，智慧化工廠就能立刻緊急處理，將故障排除，其實這對採用工廠來說，就是穩定產能，換句話說，就是營業額更加穩定。

對這工廠來說，最大的危機是，如果競爭對手擁有這樣的效能，而自己沒有，那該怎麼辦？如果台灣 80% 的中小型工廠，都一樣缺乏數位化軍備能力，台灣製造業該怎麼辦？

台灣廠商如何切入，卡位智慧工廠？

「台灣要在全球工業 4.0 供應鏈當中佔有一席之地，其實不難，而且具有角色優勢。」

羅仕昀從技術面跟市場面分析表示，在技術上，台灣廠商應該將過去 PC 代工產業上的歷史優勢，轉型發展為有特色、加值應用的自動化設備，因為 PC 只要灌軟體就可以變成 PLC（Programmable Logic Controller 可编程控制器），還比 PLC 擁有更多物聯網的數據機能。

因此，新漢在作為工業 4.0 解決方案提供者的角色上，就聚焦在「無風扇」工業電腦及觸控電腦，來解決很多工廠作業環境都有油污、酸蝕、有害氣體、粉塵等破壞性物質的問題，也運用抗酸蝕的金屬外殼來服務這些客戶，以免風扇因為卡粉塵發生故障，繼而讓工廠系統不穩定。

市場面來看，歐洲是領頭羊，觀念先進，因此拓展歐洲市場很重要，目前新漢客戶以區域來看，泛歐洲是第一大客戶，國外子公司為了衝刺業務會優先設在客戶國家，像是義大利、英國等等，還有智慧工廠接受度高的美國、日本及中國。而且車聯網跟物聯網在這些國家發展趨勢相當明確，因此建議台灣ＰＣ相關廠商應研發特色產品，在供應鏈中儘早卡位。

文章來源：科技報橘

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Deploying typical multi-tier line of business (LOB) applications as virtual machines in Azure is a combination of what you already know and new information about the networking, storage, and compute elements of Azure infrastructure services. To help you figure it all out, determine the design of the Azure environment by addressing the following:

1. Resource groups
2. Connectivity
3. Storage
4. Identity
5. Security
6. Virtual machines

To understand this design methodology and use it for your own LOB application, see the Design and Build an LOB application in Azure IaaS video and slide deck of the November 2016 webinar for the Cloud Adoption Advisory Board (CAAB).

This webinar has the following sections:

• Definitions and assumptions (starts at 3:12)
• Design process (starts at 8:05)
• Design example (starts at 38:50)
• Build with Azure PowerShell (starts at 50:30)

The result of the design process, which incorporates Azure Patterns and Practices recommendations and best practices, is a table of virtual machines and their associated Azure-specific settings. Here is an example:

After you have determined the table entries, it’s much easier to build out the elements and get all of the settings correct. For example, here is how you might use the table and a PowerShell command block to create a virtual network and its subnets:

And here is how you might use the table and a PowerShell command block to create a virtual machine:

The slide deck has the following appendices that were not covered in the webinar:

• PowerShell command blocks  Each slide is a fill-in-the-blanks set of Azure PowerShell commands to build an element of Azure infrastructure services.

• Design your naming conventions  Tips for determining how to name your Azure infrastructure elements.

I hope that this information gives you a defined process for accelerated and successful deployments of LOB applications hosted in Azure.

To join the CAAB, become a member of the CAAB space in the Microsoft Tech Community and send a quick email to CAAB@microsoft.com to introduce yourself. Please feel free to include any information about your experience in creating cloud-based solutions with Microsoft products or areas of interest. Join now and add your voice to the cloud adoption discussion that is happening across Microsoft and the industry.