Issue

After the upgrade we noticed that Reports are not longer available. Opening a random report resulted in an error:

Failed to load expressions host assembly. Details: Could not load file or assembly ‘SrsResources. Culture=Neutral’ or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

Root Cause

As SQL Reporting Reporting Services is a component of SQL Server setup and thus Reporting Services will be upgraded as well. By default, the installation directory of SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services, which may very to your custom parameters, is the following:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSRS10.50.MSSQLSERVER

Due to the upgrade from SQL Server 2008 R2 to SQL Server 2012 the default installation directory has changed to:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSRS11.MSSQLSERVER

So the configuration defined in rssrvpolicy.config does not match the new situation. The SRSResources assembly url in rsssrvpolicy.config is still pointing to the installation path of SQL Server 2008 R2 instead of SQL Server 2012.

Solution

This issue can be solved by performing the following steps:

• Change the SRSResources assembly url in rssrvpolicy.config which is located in the new SSRS installation folder .\MSRS11.MSSQLSERVER\Reporting Services\Report Server\Bin

to

• Copy srsresources.dll from the old SSRS installation folder .\MSRS10.50.MSSQLSERVER\Reporting Services\Report Server\Bin to the new SSRS installation folder .\MSRS11.MSSQLSERVER\Reporting Services\Report Server\Bin.
• That is it!

Preferred Solution

Although we fixed this issue in a production environment and were able to reproduce it in a lab environment I am not sure the above steps are a recommended approach or are even supported by Microsoft. I guess a rhetoric question .

To be sure you are taking a ‘supported’ route the best way is to remove the Reporting Service Point (RSP) role and add it back again. How to install RSP is described in this TechNet wiki.

Hope this helps!

http://technet.microsoft.com/library/gg682077.aspx#BKMK_SupConfigSQLDBconfig

When the setup of a secondary site fails for some reason(s) and you re-run the setup and re-use the SQL Server Express instance – which was previously installed on the first attempt – the prerequisite checker indicates the that SQL Server (Express) version is not supported which results the setup will not continue.

Having a closer look using ConfigMgrPrereq.log and ConfigMgrSetup.log the reason why the setup of the secondary site server failed is clear:

SQL Server version;    Error;    Configuration Manager sites require a supported SQL Server version with required hotfixes for site database operations to succeed. Before Setup can continue, you must install a supported version of SQL Server on the specified site database server. For more information, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=232936

With Configuration Manager 2012 SP1 an unsupported version of SQL Server Express (11.0.2100.60 – RTM) is installed on secondary site servers. This SQL instance does not contain CU2 or SP1.

The SQL Server version can be determined through various ways including the Configuration Manager Prerequisite Checker or SQL Server Management Studio.

For the record when you are deploying a secondary site server based on Configuration Manager 2012 RTM the SQL Server version installed is SQL Server 2008 R2 Express SP1, which means no post actions are required.

Unsupported doesn’t means it isn’t working – actually it is working fine. I am wondering if you aware of this and have updated your secondary site server(s) to meet SQL Sever 2012 Express at least CU2 or SP1? 

Bottom-line, based on the Supported Configurations for Configuration Manager documentation and the pre-requisites checker – SQL Server 2012 Express with a minimum of CU2 or SQL Server 2012 SP1 must be installed afterwards a Secondary Site Server setup in order to meet a supported Configuration Manager configuration.

A close member of the Configuration Manager Product Team confirmed this behavior and committed some guidance on this topic to be expected on TechNet (aka update product documentation).

The Proof-of-Concept’s (PoC) for Windows Intune showcase the benefits and features of using the Windows Intune service to manage mobile devices in IT environment through the cloud or in a hybrid scenario.

During the POC we had a challenge how to introduce selective synchronization of user objects between on-premise Active Directory and Windows Azure Active Directory. This to achieve to synchronize only those user accounts which are Windows Intune ‘enabled’.

Windows Intune Infrastructure overview.

Background

Before continuing how to configure selective Active Directory Synchronization some background of how Active Directory synchronization between on-premise and off-premise take place.

DirSync

Although you can manage your authentication entirely in Windows Azure Active Directory (WAAD), you can also synchronize WAAD with an existing on-premise Active Directory environment using the Active Directory directory synchronization (DirSync) tool.

DirSync creates a read-only connection from your on-premise Active Directory to WAAD and ensures that the cloud-based directory is always synchronized with the on-premise directory. If you make a change in your on-premise Active Directory, the change is synchronized to the cloud.

On-premise account passwords are not transferred to the cloud. Users will be assigned a new temporary password. To avoid password confusion, it is recommended that you consider deploying single sign-on (SSO) with Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS). This configuration enables users to access on-premise and cloud services by using only corporate credentials.

Selective Synchronization

My colleague Mark Blok pointed me to an interesting blog post from MSExchangeGuru.com how to configure select Active Directory synchronization for Office 365. Until now, one of the challenges of DirSync is that it would sync your entire AD to Windows Intune/WAAD. This means that if you had 10,000 AD users and only wanted 500 in Windows Intune, you would have all 10,000 users listed in Windows Intune.

DirSync is simply a pre-configured Microsoft Identity Integration Server [MIIS] installation specific for Office 365, Windows Intune integration. The MIIS Client located at:

• 32-bit: %SystemDrive%\Program Files\Microsoft Online Directory Sync\SYNCBUS\UIShell

• 64-bit: %SystemDrive%\Program Files\Microsoft Online Directory Sync\SYNCBUS\Synchronization Service\UIShell

There are 3 filtering options that can be applied to DirSync:

• Organizational Units based, which allows you to select which OUs are to be synced to the cloud;

• Domain based, allowing you to select which domains are synchronized to the cloud;

• User attribute based, enabling you to control which objects shouldn’t be synchronized to the cloud based on their AD attributes.

This blog post explains how to filter based on Organizational Units as this the most common used scenario for Active Directory user object filtering.

Organizational Units Based Filtering

• Log on to the computer that is running DirSync by using an account that is a member of the MIISAdmins local group

• Open MIIS by running miisclient.exe

• In Synchronization Service Manager, click Management Agents and then double-click SourceAD

• Click Configure Directory Partitions and then click Containers

• When prompted, enter domain credentials for your on-premises domain and then click OK
• When prompted, enter domain credentials for your on-premises domain and then click OK

• If you click in Advanced… you will be able to further control which OUs to include and exclude

XapSignTool

Before distributing a company app or a Company Hub app, you must sign the XAP with the code signing certificate that was obtained from Symantec. To perform these tasks, you have the following options:

• You can perform both tasks by running the BuildMDILXap.ps1 PowerShell script that is included with Windows Phone SDK 8.0. For more info, see Precompiling managed assemblies and signing apps by using the Windows PowerShell script in this topic.

• If you are building the apps at the command prompt by using MSBuild and Visual Studio 2012 Update 2 or later, you can specify MSBuild command-line options to perform these tasks. For more info, see Precompiling managed assemblies and signing apps from the command line by using MSBuild in this topic.

• You can use the MDILXapCompile and XapSignTool command-line tools to perform each task individually. For more info about using these tools, see How to precompile a company app by using MDILXAPCompile and How to sign a company app by using XapSignTool.

NOTE! Do NOT use the BuildMDILXap PowerShell script identified on MSDN as this can cause problems with the package installation on the Phone.

This blog post provides instructions for using the XapSignTool – part of the Windows Phone SDK 8.0 – to sign your Windows Phone 8 Apps.

Process

This section describes in chronological order the process of signing a Windows Phone App. In this example I am using the Company Portal App which is required to deploy Windows Phone 8 apps to Windows Phones 8:

• Use a Windows 8 64-bit (x64) client as it is mandatory for Windows Phone SDK 8.0
• Next step is to downloading and install Windows Phone SDK 8.0 on your Windows 8 client
• When finished download and install the Company Portal App on your Windows 8 client as well
• Retrieve the Company Portal App previously installed. The default installation path is: %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft Corporation\Windows Intune Company Portal for Windows Phone 8/SSP.xap
• Get your code signing certificate. You will need a copy of the code-signing certificate that was obtained from Symantec exported to PFX file along with the password to access it.

Note! Make sure you have installed the complete certificate chain of your code signing certificate on your Windows 8 client in order to properly sign your apps. If not included, the signing of your Windows Phone apps will succeed but the apps become useless. Make sure the enterprise code signing certificate contains the private key!

• Start the VS2012 x86 Native Tools Command Prompt using the “Run as administrator” option and switch to the following folder: %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Phone\v8.0\Tools\XapSignTool
• Use the following command to sign the Company Portal App: C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Phone\v8.0\Tools\XapSignTool>xapsigntool sign /v /signtool "C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\bin\x86" /f [certificate.pfx] /p [password] SSP.xap

Be sure to update this command with appropriate values for your SSP.XAP, PFX filename and the password you used to protect your enterprise cert.

You should also see the date modified field change to the current time and the XAP file size change to approx. 343 KB. You can now upload this along with your enterprise certificate into Configuration Manager 2012 SP1 or Windows Intune.

To ease the process of signing your Windows Phone 8 app you can use the following PowerShell script code:

 

$signtool = ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.0\bin\x86′
$certificate = ‘C:\Users\user1\Documents\Certificates\<code signing certificate>’
$password = ‘<password>’
$app = ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Corporation\Windows Intune Company Portal for Windows Phone 8\ssp.xap’

& ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows Phone\v8.0\Tools\XapSignTool\xapsigntool’ sign /v /signtool $signtool /f $certificate /p $password $app

The Windows Phone 8 App Code signing PowerShell script can be download here from TechNet Gallery

Sources:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsphone/develop/jj206943(v=vs.105).aspx

http://www.cableplugger.com/2013/02/exactly-how-do-you-sign-windows-phone-8.html

Pricing

Customers feedback made clear that they don’t want to have to choose either a low price or good performance; they want a low price and good performance. That’s why today we are also announcing a commitment to match Amazon Web Services (AWS) prices for commodity services such as compute, storage and bandwidth.  This starts with reducing our GA prices on Virtual Machines and Cloud Services by 21-33%.  Regardless of how you choose to buy Windows Azure, you’ll get the benefit of this price reduction. As our operations GM Steven Martin said, “If you had concerns that Windows Azure was more expensive, we’re putting those concerns to rest today.”

“We may charge less, but never more. The reason is simple. We want to remove price as part of the equation.” We’d rather compete on the services we provide and the complete vision of the Microsoft Cloud OS which provides rich:

• Infrastructure services
• Platform services
• Hybrid scenarios

Heavy workloads

By listening to customer feedback, Microsoft learned a lot about the workloads they want to run. As part of Windows Azure new Infrastructure Services release, we’ve added in new high memory VM instances (28GB/4 core and 56 GB/8 core) to run your most demanding workloads.  We also learned more about the apps you want to run so we’ve added in a number of new Microsoft validated instances to our list including SQL Server, SharePoint, BizTalk Server, and Dynamics NAV to name a few.

These configurations enable workloads with increasing compute demands running 100% on Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V

Customers have a choice, and that’s why today, we are making it as easy as possible to have it all – a complete hybrid cloud platform, great support, without a price barrier. Go to WindowsAzure.com today for a free trial, and experience the power of “and”. Also visit Scott Guthrie’s blog for a deep dive into Infrastructure Services

Windows Azure Overview

New to Windows Azure and you’re looking for a quick overview? Download the Windows Azure poster which provides a description of current services by category:

• app services
• data services
• compute
• networking
• store

Depicts common uses including Cloud Services, Virtual Machines, Web Sites, Mobile Services, and Media Services.

Source

Implementing Windows Intune might be for the most of us an ease approach because it is uses commonly used standards like http and https. Nevertheless, in organizations where internet access is controlled using firewall(s) and proxy servers this might be a challenge.

Specific services or websites has to be disclosed to work properly. The same applies to Windows Intune. For those who have to implement in such environments where internet access is limited the overview below outlines the required domain and ports in order to let Windows Intune work like a charm.

Required domains for documentation, online Help, and support

Domain	Ports
*.livemeeting.com	80 and 443
*.microsoftonline.com	80 and 443
onlinehelp.microsoft.com	80
*.social.technet.microsoft.com	80
blogs.technet.com	80
go.microsoft.com	80
http://www.microsoft.com	80

Required domains for Microsoft Update Services

Domain	Ports
*.update.microsoft.com	80 and 443
download.microsoft.com	80 and 443
update.microsoft.com	80 and 443

Note: Depending on the firewall and how it processes DNS lookup requests, you might also need to allow access to the domain manage.microsoft.com.nsatc.net on port 80.

Required domains for Windows Update Services

Domain	Ports
*.download.windowsupdate.com	80 and 443
*.windowsupdate.com	80 and 443
download.windowsupdate.com	80 and 443
ntservicepack.microsoft.com	80 and 443
windowsupdate.microsoft.com	80 and 443

Required domains for Windows Intune and related services

Domain	Ports
*.manage.microsoft.com	80 and 443
*.manage.microsoft.com	80 and 443
*.spynet2.microsoft.com	443
manage.microsoft.com	80 and 443
wustat.microsoft.com	80 and 443
*.googleapis.com	80 and 443
*.microsoftonline-p.com	80 and 443
*.microsoftonline-p.net	80 and 443
c.microsoft.com	80 and 443
c1.microsoft.com	80 and 443

Note: The *.googleapis.com domain is required for JQuery support when using the Company Portal website.

Source: Windows Intune Partner Engagement

The update packages for App Controller, Service Provider Foundation, Operations Manager, and Data Protection Manager are available from Microsoft Update

How to obtain and install Update Rollup 2 for System Center 2012 Service Pack 1

To manually download the update packages from Microsoft Update Catalog, go to the following Microsoft websites:

• App Controller (KB2815569) Download the App Controller update package now.
• Operations Manager (KB2828615) Download the Operations Manager update package now.
• Operations Manager – UNIX and Linux Monitoring (Management Pack Update) (KB2828653) Download the Operations Manager Cross Platform update package now.
• Service Manager (KB2828618) Download the Service Manager update package now.
• Orchestrator (KB2828616) Download the Orchestrator update package now.
• Data Protection Manager (KB2822782) Download the Data Protection Manager update package now.

For detailed information about Update Rollup 2 for System Center 2012 Service Pack1 see the original Microsoft article.

Source

Browse the Training Kit Content

What is Windows Azure?

The Windows Azure is an internet-scale cloud services platform hosted in Microsoft data centers, which provides an operating system and a set of developer services that can be used individually or together. Windows Azure’s flexible and interoperable platform can be used to build new applications to run from the cloud or enhance existing applications with cloud-based capabilities.

Learn more…

Get the Training Kit

GitHub	Web Installer	Offline Package
Get the source code from GitHub	Download the specific content you want	Download the entire training kit

The Windows Azure Training Kit is available in two formats: a full package and the web installer.

• Windows Azure Training Kit – Full Package (WATK-December2012.exe)
  The full package enables you to download all of the hands-on labs and presentations to your local machine. To use the full package, simply download and run the WATK-December2012.exe. This file is a self-extracting executable that will extract all of the training kit files to the directory you specify. After the content is extracted, the starting page for the training kit will be displayed in your default browser. You can then browse through the individual hands-on labs, demos, and presentations.
• Windows Azure Training Kit – Web Installer (WATK-WebInstaller.exe)
  The Web Installer allows you to select and download just the specific hands-on labs and presentations that you need. The Web Installer is a much smaller download so it is recommended in situations where you cannot download the full package. To use the Web Installer, simply download and run WATK-WebInstaller.exe. The Web Installer will then display a list of the content in the training kit. You can then select the hands-on labs and presentations to download. After selecting the content proceed through the steps in the application to download the files to the directory that you specify.
• Windows Azure Training Kit on GitHub
  In addition to downloading the training kit contents, you can also browse through the content, report any issues with the content, and make your own contributions on GitHub. You can find the training kit content on GitHub at http://windowsazure-trainingkit.github.com

Contribute to the Training Kit

In addition to downloading all the source you can make contributions! Please see GitHub section How to send pull requests and the Windows Azure Contribution Guidelines for more information about contributing to projects.

Source

Issues that are fixed in Rollup 1

The issues that are fixed in Rollup 1 are listed in the following articles. To view the issues, click the article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base.

• 2810229 FIX: You cannot redirect local computer resources in an RDS session after you disable the client endpoint components in Forefront Unified Access Gateway 2010
• 2831570 FIX: "The URL you requested cannot be accessed" error message may be returned when a client sends an HTTP POST request to a portal in Forefront Unified Access Gateway 2010
• 2831573 FIX: Traffic is not forwarded or you receive an error message about ADVAPI32.dll when you use a Windows XP client to start an application from a Forefront Unified Access Gateway 2010 Service Pack 3 portal
• 2831865 FIX: The endpoint policy expression "Any Personal Firewall (Windows)" is incorrect for Windows 7 and Windows 8 in Service Pack 3 for Forefront Unified Access Gateway (UAG) 2010
• 2831868 FIX: Endpoint policies for existing trunks are not updated after you install Forefront Unified Access Gateway 2010 Service Pack 3
• 2832679 FIX: You receive a 500 Internal Server error when you run the File Access application from the Forefront Unified Access Gateway 2010 Service Pack 3 portal trunk
• 2832681 FIX: You receive a script error that prevents file access configuration in the Management Console in Forefront Unified Access Gateway 2010
• 2832685 FIX: The Forefront Unified Access Gateway 2010 portal may intermittently become unresponsive to clients after Service Pack 2 is installed

Rollup 1 for Forefront UAG 2010 Service Pack 3 can be requested here

Forefront UAG 2010 Service Pack 3 is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center, as an upgrade from UAG 2010 Service Pack 2.

Keynote, Cloud Optimize Your Business with Microsoft Management Solutions

Brad Anderson, corporate vice president in Microsoft’s Windows Server and System Center Group, took the stage this morning to kick-off the Microsoft Management Summit in Las Vegas. Anderson’s keynote to more than 5,000 attendees highlighted the company’s Cloud OS strategy and how IT professionals can use Microsoft technologies to transform their datacenters.

The keynote, which included live demos, will be available on Channel 9 for on-demand viewing. Anderson also posted to the Official Microsoft Blog today.

Other Highlights Includes

• System Center Management Pack for Windows Azure is available for public preview today. This management pack enables customers to monitor availability and performance of their Windows Azure resources and services using their existing System Center 2012 SP1 monitoring environment.
• A public preview of the System Center Advisor Connector for Operations Manager is available as a free download for System Center 2012 SP1 customers.  This connector enables customers to access best practice configuration assessments from System Center Advisor via the System Center Operations Manager console. The preview bits are available at the Microsoft Download Center.  We also recently announced that System Center Advisor supports configuration analysis for Windows Server 2012 and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 workloads.
• Windows Azure Backup now is available in a public paid preview. Windows Azure Backup helps customers protect important server data offsite with automated backups to the cloud, where it is available for easy data restoration.
• On March 28, Microsoft announced commercial availability of Global Service Monitor (GSM). GSM extends the application monitoring capabilities in System Center 2012 SP1 using Windows Azure locations around the globe, giving a true reflection of end-user experience of your application. Customers can sign up for the service today. 
• Microsoft is participating in OpenDaylight, a collaborative, open source project to advance Software-Defined Networking (SDN). By participating in the multi-platform endeavor, Microsoft is demonstrating our commitment to an open, extensible and standards-based approach to SDN and network virtualization.

Inovativ

This edition of MMS2013 Inovativ is well represented with 2 great speakers; Maarten Goet and Walter Eikenboom, below an overview of their sessions.

 IM-B316 Monitoring and Managing the Network and Storage Infrastructure with Operations Manager 2012

Your infrastructure is not just servers. You have to account for storage and networking as well. Come and learn how Operations Manager 2012 can give you insight into the health and well-being of your infrastructure.

 SD-B314 Mission: IT Operations for a Good Night’s Sleep

IT Admins are responding to incidents on a day-to-day basis, but management wants to shift to service monitoring. The biggest mismatch there is the maturity level and misconception that technology will fix the GAP. We know that’s not true! This session shows you how to get from component monitoring to LOB application monitoring with Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2012 SP1 and changing the operational paradigm to a private cloud service connecting System Center Orchestrator and System Center Service Manager 2012, creating processes to get your infrastructure to a private cloud. All set and sleep tight!

For more information about MMS 2013 news, please visit the Microsoft News Center.  Follow the conversation on Twitter at #MMS2013.

Sources:

http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013

http://blogs.technet.com/b/stbnewsbytes/archive/2013/04/03/customer-success-stories-and-product-updates-announced-at-mms-2013.aspx