Lync 2010 and OCS - Mobility announcements

• Link
  Microsoft Lync 2010 for Mobile Devices (updated 20 Dec 2011)
  Desmond Lee Monday, December 12, 2011 2:58 PM

  Microsoft Lync 2010 for Windows Phone (11/12 Dec 2011)
  http://www.windowsphone.com/en-US/apps/9ce93e51-5b35-e011-854c-00237de2db9e?wa=wsignin1.0&ocid=soc-n-at-loc--TI-MG&WT.mc_id=soc-n-at-loc--TI-MG

  Microsoft Lync 2010 for Android (13/14 Dec 2011)
  https://market.android.com/details?id=com.microsoft.office.lync&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5taWNyb3NvZnQub2ZmaWNlLmx5bmMiXQ..

  Microsoft Lync 2010 for iPhone (19/20 Dec 2011)
  http://itunes.apple.com/app/microsoft-lync-2010-for-iphone/id484293461?mt=8

  Microsoft Lync 2010 for iPad (19/20 Dec 2011)
  http://itunes.apple.com/app/microsoft-lync-2010-for-ipad/id484222449?mt=8

  References

  Mobile Client Comparison Tables
  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh691004.aspx

  Deploying Mobile Clients
  http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh691005.aspx

  Note
  The Lync client for mobile phones and devices all require Office365/Lync Online account or on-premise Lync Server setup. Besides backend infrastructure updates and configuration settings*, users with Lync accounts must be enabled with the appropriate voice and mobility policy (where applicable).

  * see Lync Server 2010 Mobility Service (Dec 2011)

Lync 2010 and OCS - Planning and Deployment announcements

• Link
  RTM Download: Skype for Business 2015 (Server / Desktop Client)
  Desmond Lee Monday, May 4, 2015 8:40 AM

  
  Skype for Business Server 2015 - successor to Lync Server 2013

  - Download available for MSDN subscribers and Volume Licensing customers (1 May 2015).

  
  Skype for Business 2015 Desktop Client*

  - April 14, 2015 update for Lync 2013 (Skype for Business) (KB2889923)

  * Windows platform

• Link
  Lync Server 2010 Mobility Service (Dec 2011)
  Desmond Lee Tuesday, December 20, 2011 5:58 PM

  Requirements

  • Lync Server 2010 Cumulative Update 4 (CU4); KB2493736; download
  • Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Mobility Service and Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Autodiscover Service; download
  • Infrastructure and configuration updates (see references)
  • Lync Mobile client; see Microsoft Lync 2010 for Mobile Devices (updated 20 Dec 2011)

  References

  • Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Mobility Guide (download)
  • Planning for Mobility (link)
  • Deploying Mobility (link)
  • Monitoring Mobility for Performance (link)

  Enjoy!

   

• Link
  Lync Server 2010 RTM Trial / Evaluation Download
  Desmond Lee Wednesday, November 17, 2010 9:34 AM

  Microsoft Lync Server 2010 180-Day Trial
  (x64 only; includes both Standard and Enterprise Editions)

  Microsoft Lync 2010 client Trial
  - x86 version
  - x64 version

  Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Trial

  Enjoy!

   

• Link
  Lync Server 2010 Goes RTM !
  Desmond Lee Thursday, October 28, 2010 9:41 AM

  
  Microsoft Lync Released to Manufacturing
  http://blogs.technet.com/b/uc/archive/2010/10/27/microsoft-lync-released-to-manufacturing.aspx

  Enjoy!

Machine Learning Services (R announcements

• Link
  Get started with R analytics on SQL server
  Jitendra Kulshreshtha Friday, April 20, 2018 11:09 PM

  Overview

  The process of building an end to end solution typically consists of obtaining and cleaning data, data exploration and feature engineering, model training and tuning, and finally deployment of the model in production. Development and testing of the actual code is best performed using a dedicated development environment. For R, that might mean RStudio or R Tools for Visual Studio.

  However, after the solution has been created, you can easily deploy it to SQL Server using Transact-SQL stored procedures in the familiar environment of Management Studio.

  In this tutorial, we assume that you have been given all the R code needed for the solution, and focus on building and deploying the solution using SQL Server.

  • Lesson 1: Download the sample data

    Download the sample dataset and the sample SQL script files to a local computer.

  • Lesson 2: Import data to SQL Server using PowerShell

    Execute a PowerShell script that creates a database and a table on the SQL Server 2017 instance and loads the sample data to the table.

  • Lesson 3: Explore and visualize the data

    Perform basic data exploration and visualization, by calling R packages and functions from Transact-SQL stored procedures.

  • Lesson 4: Create data features using T-SQL

    Create new data features using custom SQL functions.

  • Lesson 5: Train and save an R model using T-SQL

    Build a machine learning model using R in stored procedures. Save the model to a SQL Server table.

  • Lesson 6: Operationalize the model

    After the model has been saved to the database, call the model for prediction from Transact-SQL by using stored procedures.

• Link
  Run machine learning directly on SQL Server !!!
  Jitendra Kulshreshtha Friday, April 20, 2018 11:05 PM

  What is SQL Server Machine Learning Services?

  • 
    
  • THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: SQL Server (Windows only)
    

  SQL Server Machine Learning Services is an embedded, predictive analytics and data science engine that can execute R and Python code within a SQL Server database as stored procedures, as T-SQL script containing R or Python statements, or as R or Python code containing T-SQL.

  The key value proposition of Machine Learning Services is the power of its proprietary packages to deliver advanced analytics at scale, and the ability to bring calculations and processing to where the data resides, eliminating the need to pull data across the network.

  There are two options for using machine learning capabilities in SQL Server:

  • SQL Server Machine Learning Services (In-Database) operates within the database engine instance, where the calculation engine is fully integrated with the database engine. Most installations are this option.
  • SQL Server Machine Learning Server (Standalone) is a non-SQL installation. Although you use SQL Server Setup to install the server, it is completely decoupled from SQL Server. Functionally, it is equivalent to the non-SQL Microsoft Machine Learning Server for Windows.

  R and Python packages

  Support for each language is through proprietary Microsoft packages used for creating and training models of various types, scoring data, and parallel processing using the underlying system resources.

  Because the proprietary packages are built on open-source R and Python distributions, script or code that you run in SQL Server can also call base functions and use third-party packages compatible with the language version provided in SQL Server (Python 3.5 and recent versions of R, currently 3.3.3).

  R	Python	Description
  RevoScaleR	revoscalepy	Functions in these libraries are among the most widely used. Data transformations and manipulation, statistical summarization, visualization, and many forms of modeling and analyses are found in these libraries. Additionally, functions in these libraries automatically distribute workloads across available cores for parallel processing, with the ability to work on chunks of data that are coordinated and managed by the calculation engine.
  MicrosoftML	microsoftml	Industry-leading machine learning algorithms for image featurization, classification problems, and more.
  olapR	none	Build or execute an MDX query in R script.
  sqlRUtils	none	Functions for putting R scripts into a T-SQL stored procedure, registering a stored procedure with a database, and running the stored procedure from an R development environment.
  mrsdeploy	none	Primarily used on a non-SQL installation of Machine Learning Server, such as the (Standalone) version. Use this package to deploy and host web services, build scale-out topologies with dedicated web and compute nodes, toggle between local and remote sessions, run diagnostics, and more. For an (In-Database) installation, use this package in a client capacity: for example, to access a web service on a remote server dedicated to running just Machine Learning Services workloads.

  Portability of your custom R and Python code is addressed through package distribution and interpreters that are built into multiple products. The same packages that ship in SQL Server are also available in several other Microsoft products and services, including a non-SQL version called Microsoft Machine Learning Server. Free clients that include our R and Pyton interpreters include Microsoft R Client and the Python libraries.

MBSA - Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer announcements

• Link
  Welcome to the Micosoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) forums!
  Doug Neal Friday, February 18, 2011 10:34 PM

  This forum is for the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer security tool (www.microsoft.com/mbsa). No other security questions can be answered in this forum.

  Welcome to the updated MBSA TechNet forum to discuss the free Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer security scan tool.

  As a security scan tool based on Microsoft Update, the behavior and results of MBSA are the same as Microsoft Update (not Windows Update that only detects updates for Windows products).  With the exception of WSUS-managed machines where the administrator's approved updates take precedence, MBSA will report exactly what Microsoft Update will report.  Like Systems Management Server (SMS), System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM), WSUS Server, MBSA uses the exact same logic and mechanisms as Microsoft Update to determine update applicability and installed state.

  As a security scan tool, MBSA reports against three classifications of updates: Security Updates, Update Rollups and Service Packs.  Critical (non-security) Updates, Definition Updates and Feature Packs and drivers are not detected by MBSA.

  The majority of issues reported by MBSA users stem from an expected update not being displayed - which is often because the update is not an MSRC security bulletin listed in the Security Bulletin Search (http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/current.aspx) or is not an update rollup (like a new version of Internet Explorer) or a Service Pack.

  Almost all issues can be easily resolved by reviewing the error message displayed by MBSA, reviewing the System Requirements within the MBSA Help file (installed with MBSA) or the online MBSA Q&A (FAQ) located here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/cc184922.

  The latest MBSA news and information can be found at www.microsoft.com/mbsa and in the MBSA Q&A (FAQ).

MDOP Asset Inventory Service - Announcements announcements

• Link
  Important information About Your AIS Agent Installation Package
  Paul Bourgeau Monday, November 22, 2010 6:03 PM

  Overview

  =======

  Every Asset Inventory Service (AIS) agent installation package contains a certificate that identifies the account of the AIS subscriber. This certificate is used to ensure that inventory reported by an agent is associated with the correct account when it is received at the AIS web service.

  This certificate has a lifetime of 3 years. After this time, the installation package cannot be used to successfully enroll new agents, although existing agents will continue to function just fine. A notification will be displayed in the console for those accounts that are approaching the 3 year threshold (approximately 60 days before the certificate expires). The systems administrator of the AIS account should then download their new agent installation package which is available from the normal download page in the AIS console.

  The AIS service supports multiple agent installation packages per account. This means that the original package and the new package can both be used to install new agents. This allows a transition period where an organization can change their procedures to use the new installation package. Eventually, however, the certificate in the original installation package will expire, after which time only the new package should be used.

  Frequently Asked Questions

  =======================

  What do I do if I see the following announcement on my home page:

  “Your original AIS agent installation package expires on <expiry date>. Please download your new agent installation package and use it for all future installations. [Computers that had the original agent installation package installed before <expiry date> do not have to be updated.]”

  This means that your original agent installation package is going to expire soon, and you need to download a new one and use that for agent installations. The message will typically be shown 60 days before the package expires. You can continue using the original installation package until the date in the announcement but it is recommended that you start using the new one as soon as possible.

  When I go to the client deployment area, there’s no option to download a new installation package

  If you see the expiry announcement on the home page, the service will have generated a new installation package for your account. You download it the same way you downloaded the original package by visiting the Client Deployment area of the Management and Support workspace and click on the link that says “Download Client Here”. You can verify that you have downloaded the latest package by viewing the properties of downloaded file as follows:

  ·         Select the file and display the property page

  ·         Select the Digital Signatures Tab and view Signature List

  ·         Locate “Microsoft Corporation” in the list and double-click it

  ·         The Signing Time on the displayed property page should be Nov 2010.

  What happens if I carry on using the original installation package?

  If the announcement is shown on the home page and you continue to use the original installation package after the date shown in the message, you will not be able to successfully enroll agents into the AIS service. The installation will be successful, but when the agent attempts to enroll in the service, it will be rejected. The only way to correct this situation is to download the new installation package from the service and install that on the affected machines. [see below: How do I correct a failed installation?]

  What do I do if I see the following announcement on my home page?

  “Your original AIS agent installation package expired on <expiry date>. Please download your new agent installation package and use it for all future installations. [Computers that had the original agent installation package installed before <expiry date> do not have to be updated.]”

  This means that your original agent installation package has expired. If you obtained a new installation package and phased out using the old package before the date of expiry, then you have no further actions. If, however, you have been attempting to deploy agents using your original agent installation package then you need to take the following action:

  -          Stop using the original installation package

  -          Download a new agent installation package from the AIS console by visiting the Client Deployment area of the Management and Support workspace and click on the link that says “Download Client Here”

  -          Start using the new installation package for all future installations

  -          Identify the machines where an attempt was made to install the AIS agent with the expired installation package.

  o   These will be machines where the agent was recently installed, but are not displayed in the console.

  o   For these machines, re-run the install with the new package [see below: How do I correct a failed installation?]

  How do I correct a failed installation?

  If you identify a machine where an attempt was made to install an AIS agent, but the enrollment failed because the agent installation package had expired, proceed as follows:

  -          Option #1

  o   Uninstall the AIS agent

  §   Asset Inventory Service Tips and Troubleshooting

  ·         Tip: How to remove the AIS client software

  o   Run the installation using the new agent installation package

   

  -          Option #2

  o   Run the installation using the following MSI flags: REINSTALLMODE=vomus

  §  For example:  msiexec /I  <path to new .msi file> REINSTALLMODE=vomus

  Note: if you simply run the new agent install on the failed machine (without following either of these options) it will not successfully update the agent configuration and enroll with the service.

  How do I know when my agent installation package will expire?

  The following steps describe how to determine when an agent installation package was signed. If the current date is less than 3 years from this date, the package can still be used to install and enroll an agent :

  ·         Locate the agent installation package

  ·         Select the installation package file and display the property page

  ·         Select the Digital Signatures Tab and view Signature List

  ·         Locate “Microsoft Corporation” in the list and double-click it

  ·         If the Signing Time on the displayed property page is less than 3 years ago, then the package can still be used to install and enroll an agent.

  Why does the certificate in the agent installation package expire after 3 years?

  Certificates have an expiry date to reduce the time period available to an attacker. Three years was adopted as a reasonable balance between renewing the agent installation packages and providing acceptable security for user accounts.

   

MDOP Asset Inventory Service - General Discussion announcements

• Link
  AIS Discussion Forums - Important Notice
  Paul Bourgeau Thursday, March 26, 2009 5:55 PM

   

  Welcome to The Asset Inventory Service technical forums, brought to you by the System Center Online team!

  These forums are a venue for you to post questions, comments, and feedback about your experiences with the Asset Inventory Service.  The goal of these forums is to promote discussion among users of AIS, and foster a community of AIS users.

  Before posting a technical question, be sure to review our technical documentation and troubleshooting guides. They contain important information that may help you resolve your issue.  If you don’t find the information you need in the documentation, please post your issue. It is easier for us to give correct guidance if your log files are included.

  The log collection tool is used to gather the following information:

  ·         SCOnlineClient.log from %Windir%

  ·         System Event Logs

  ·         System Center Online Registry Settings

  ·         System Center Online Scheduled Tasks

   

  To run the log collector tool, navigate via command line to c:\program files\Microsoft System Center Online Client\Diagnostic Tools and run "cscript logcollector.vbs"

  After the Log Collection Tool script is complete, the resulting set of files is located in the same directory.

   

  Please note: The log collector files may contain personally identifiable information.  You may choose to review the contents of these files and alter them file to hide any information before posting it in these forums.

   

  We welcome your input and participation!