In this week’s newsletter
Interview with Johan Arwidmark coming soon! MDT or Autopilot? A smarter approach? How many activated KMS clients? COVID Corner – Smoothing the way forward. Plus lots more — read it all, read it here on WServerNews!
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Editor’s Corner
This week’s observations and ruminations from Mitch Tulloch our Senior Editor…
Interview with Johan Arwidmark coming soon!
I’m excited to announce that I’ll be interviewing Johan Arwidmark again. Johan is one of the top Windows deployment experts in the world and I interviewed him back in 2016 to glean some insights on deploying Windows 10 at that time. A lot of things have transpired since then in the deployment arena, and I was amazed to learn from his blog Deployment Research that you can now deploy Windows 10 onto bare metal using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) running in a virtual machine in Azure or AWS, wow!! In my upcoming interview (which should appear on our TechGenix site in a couple of weeks) I’ll be asking Johan to provide deeper insights into how he and his team got cloud OS deployments going and what challenges they’ve faced and what’s still to overcome. In the meantime check out Johan’s recent blog posts on this subject here:
MDT or Autopilot?
If you’re a SMB (small or mid-sized business) and you want to deploy Windows PCs, should you follow the “Old Faithful” approach and use Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) or would it be better to go “Latest and Greatest” and try using Windows Autopilot?
MDT has been around a long-long time and it’s tried and tested technology that’s fairly easy to use, though it can get messy if you need to script a log of custom stuff. Autopilot on the other hand embraces Microsoft’s “Cloud First” strategy and requires some familiarity with Windows Intune and Azure Active Directory (AAD).
Personally I prefer sticking with MDT especially for businesses that haven’t fully embraced the cloud yet and still rely heavily on on-prem infra. On the other hand if I’m a partner or consultant supporting the client’s business then I’d probably use Autopilot instead since I can set up and maintain the deployment infrastructure in the cloud; the client then only needs to register any new devices with Autopilot. With MDT as a partner-led solution however, I might have to come in and update the client’s MDT images with new drivers should they buy some new model of device that their existing images don’t support. An additional benefit of using Autopilot for consultants is that it includes device management tools (Intune) which MDT itself doesn’t support since MDT in itself is only a deployment tool, not a management tool. On the other-other hand, Intune would be terrific if Microsoft just stopped trying to constantly reinvent it!
But for businesses that have at least one semi-experienced IT guy or gal who likes to role his or her own solution and keep cloud costs under control, MDT is still a great solution to go with. Plus it’s a lot more customizable — and faster! (though Microsoft of course would disagree) — than using Autopilot in its current incarnation though it’s slowly catching up in that regard.
What do our readers think about MDT vs Autopilot? Email us at [email protected]
A smarter approach?
When I shared the above thoughts with a colleague who is a consultant for SMB IT needs, he recommended using a third-party deployment solution called SmartDeploy rather than either MDT or Autopilot. SmartDeploy simplifies Windows image management by managing device drivers (often the “thorn in the flesh” for doing successful deployments) on the customer’s behalf. Their mantra of “It’s like SCCM, just easier” is a good way of understanding the scope and power of SmartDeploy as a solution for deploying and managing Windows devices. And it comes in various pricing packages with the Basic option providing deployment, reporting and support. It may be worth a look for some businesses, so go take a look if you’re interested.
Got more thoughts about anything in this newsletter?
Email us at [email protected]!
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Tip of the Week
>> Got any IT pro tips you’d like to share with other readers of our newsletter? Email us at [email protected]
How many activated KMS clients?
It’s a good idea never to clear the event logs on a KMS host as valuable information is stored there about Windows client systems that try to activate against the host. For example, by filtering the KMS host logs for Event ID 12289 you can determine which clients have been activated by examining the Activation Flag property on the General tab of the Event Properties. A value of 1 for this flag signifies successful activation of the KMS client.
For tips on using PowerShell to extract information from events in Windows event logs, this old article by Ed Wilson can be useful:
Data Mine the Windows Event Log by Using PowerShell and XML (Microsoft DevBlogs)
Admin Toolbox
>> Got any admin tools or software you’d like to recommend to our readers? Email us at [email protected]
MailStore Server is an email archiving solution for small and medium-sized businesses. It is easy to install and intuitive to use. A free trial is available for download on the vendor’s website:
http://www.wservernews.com/go/forpdub3/
This PowerShell script lets you “convert” PowerShell scripts into EXE files:
https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/PS2EXE-Convert-PowerShell-9e4e07f1
SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is an integrated environment for managing any SQL infrastructure, from SQL Server to SQL Database:
This PowerShell function gets the pending reboot status on a local or remote computer:
https://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Get-PendingReboot-Query-bdb79542
COVID Corner – Smoothing the way forward
The COVID-19 pandemic has ushered in a new normal of remote work. This week we present our interview with Geeman Yip, CEO of BitTitan, on how businesses can smooth their way forward during these trying times:
https://techgenix.com/interview-with-bittitans-geeman-yip/
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Conference calendar
NOTE: Because of the concerns surrounding the COVID-19 situation some of these conferences may be moved online or even cancelled. Please check the conference websites for the latest updates.
>> Got an IT conference or event happening that you’d like to promote in our newsletter? Email us at [email protected]
Microsoft Inspire
July 20-24, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada
https://partner.microsoft.com/en-us/inspire
Cyber Security Summits
For dates and locations see https://cybersummitusa.com/summits/
Other conferences
RSA Conference Asia Pacific & Japan – July 14-16 in Singapore
https://www.rsaconference.com/apj
VMworld – Aug 30 – Sept 3 in San Francisco
https://www.vmworld.com/en/us/index.html
Interop – Sept 21-24 in Austin, Texas
European SharePoint, Office 365 & Azure Conference (ESPC20) – Nov 9-12, 2020 in Amsterdam
https://www.sharepointeurope.com/
DevOpsCon – Nov 30 – Dec 3 in Munich, Germany
Podcast Corner
Database Administration During a Crisis with Brent Ozar (RunAsRadio)
Virtual Conferences (Clear To Send)
Full scale of Indian hacking-for-hire revealed (Risky Business)
https://risky.biz/netcasts/risky-business/
Deep[er] Dive on Azure Sentinel (Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast)
https://www.msclouditpropodcast.com/
New on Techgenix.com
Review: Exchange Online backup solution NETsec Mailbox Archiver
Businesses needing to restore mailboxes in Exchange Online often use a third-party product. NETsec Mailbox Archiver is one such solution. Here’s our review.
https://techgenix.com/review-netsec-mailbox-archiver/
How to protect your business against the biggest security threats of 2020
Join GFI Software on June 24 for an important update on the top security threats you’re facing right now.
https://techgenix.com/how-to-protect-your-business-against-the-biggest-security-threats-of-2020/
Microsoft Teams call quality dashboard: A sound feature you should use
You can boost your workers’ collaboration experience by tweaking Microsoft Teams call quality. This step-by-step guide shows you how to do it.
https://techgenix.com/microsoft-teams-call-quality/
Enterprise considerations when planning a remote work strategy
Letting employees work from home has benefits for both employer and employee. But to avoid pitfalls, you need a good remote work strategy before you begin.
https://techgenix.com/planning-a-remote-work-strategy/
What kind of protection does a VPN actually give you?
Counting on a VPN for protection of your online privacy? Be aware that the use of a VPN alone does very little to safeguard your online identity.
https://techgenix.com/vpn-protection/
Fun videos from Flixxy
Social Distancing 100 Years Ago
A new way to pass the salt and pepper at the table. Dinner scene from the 1920’s movie ‘The Scarecrow’ with Buster Keaton and Edward Cline.
https://www.flixxy.com/social-distancing-100-years-ago.htm
Can Wild Parrots Solve Puzzles?
We all know parrots are smart, but can they solve puzzles?
https://www.flixxy.com/can-wild-parrots-solve-puzzles.htm
Smart Animals Compilation
Ever wonder how intelligent animals really are? Your pets know a lot more than you may think.
https://www.flixxy.com/smart-animals-compilation.htm
To Scale: The Solar System
On a dry lakebed in Nevada, a group of friends build the first scale model of the solar system with complete planetary orbits.
https://www.flixxy.com/to-scale-the-solar-system.htm
More articles of interest
From coding to automation, SRE skills reach far and wide
A site reliability engineer wears many hats. In addition to development and IT troubleshooting responsibilities, this role requires top-notch communication skills.
2nd Watch launches cloud-based disaster recovery service
COVID-19 is accelerating interest in disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS), and 2nd Watch says it can facilitate the process and reduce cost using AWS.
Comparing AMD vs. Nvidia for virtual desktop GPU cards
Both AMD and Nvidia bring virtual GPUs to virtual desktop users with resource-intensive applications, but organizations should learn what each vendor’s vGPU cards can offer.
Q&A: Recounting the rough-and-tumble history of PowerShell
Today, PowerShell is a key tool for many Windows administrators, but its developers had to battle to get it launched. Don Jones talks about PowerShell’s tumultuous start.
Send us your feedback!
Got feedback about anything in this issue of WServerNews? Email us at [email protected]