Windows Intune July 2011 Beta

Windows Intune Logo

Microsoft released the July 2011 Beta of Windows Intune yesterday. The new beta brings a lot of new cool features which were missing in the first version of Windows Intune.

  • Software Distribution
  • License Management for third-party software
  • Enhanced Reporting
  • Read-only Access Administrators
  • Offline Client Installation
  • Remote Tasks (Malware scan etc)
  • and more…

If you need more information on the July beta of Windows Intune you can download the Factsheet or get more information on technet.

I think through this update Windows Intune gets the features it needs to be successful. This is a great opportunity for small and mid-sized which not had a Software Distribution in place, to get an easy solution.

Run Remote Powershell Commands on multiple standalone Computers

Powershell Header

With this little Powershell Script you can run Powershell Commands on multiple Remotehosts even if those are not in an Active Directory.

# Config
$Servers = @("Server01", Server02)
$Cred = Get-Credential # Add Credentials for all Servers (Domain or non-Domain)

# Run Command (for example Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq "BITS"}
foreach ($Server in $Servers) {
	Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Server -Credential $Cred {Get-Service | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq "BITS"}}
}

Important:

You have to enable Powershell Remoting on the Remotehost with Enable-PSRemoting

Quick Powershell Remoting Guide

Powershell HeaderThis is small guide which allows you to create Remote Powershell Sessions (like SSH). It allows you to create connection to Host which have Powershell Version 2.

  • Allow Powershell Remoting on the Remotehost
  • Add Trusted Hosts on the Localcomputer
  • Create a new Remotesession
  • Leave a Powershell Remotesession
  • Close a Powershell Remotesession
  • Send a command to a Remotehost

Allow Powershell Remoting on the Remotehost

Run Powershell 2.0 on the Remotehost and run the following Cmdlet.

Enable-PSRemoting

This command starts the WinRM service if it’s not allready started and sets the startup type to automatic. Adds firewall exceptions for WS-Management communications and creates a listener to accept requests.

Add Trusted Hosts on the Localcomputer

On the Local Computer run Powershell and run the following Cmdlet. This allows you to connect to any host. It also starts WinRM if its not already started.

Set-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts *

After that you may have to restart the WinRM service

Restart-Service winrm -Force

Create a new Powershell Remotesession

There are two ways to create a new PS Remotesession.

New-PSSession -ComputerName Server01

With Get-PSSession you can list all active sessions. Now you can enter a active Session with Enter-PSSession and the ID

Enter-PSSession 2

A quicker way to do that, you can simply use Enter-PSSession to create a new Session and directly connect to this Session.

Enter-PSSession -ComputerName Server02

Leave a Powershell Remotesession

To leave a Powershell Remotesession you can simply use the Exit-PSSession

Exit-PSSession

Close a Powershell Remotesession

To close a Powershell Remotesession you can list all  active Sessions with Get-PSSessions and close them with Remove-PSSession.

Get-PSSession | Remove-PSSession

Send a command to a Remotehost

To run a command on a Remotehost you can use the -ComputerName parameter.

Get-Service -ComputerName Server02
Get-Service -ComputerName Server02 | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq "BITS"}

With this little snippet you can run commands on multiple Hosts


$Servers = @("Server01", "Server02")

foreach ($Server in $Servers) {

Write-Host "Server: " $server

Get-Service -ComputerName $server | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq "BITS"}

}

Still love my iPad

iPad

I still love my iPad. Now I really start to work with it. It keeps my life simple and easy.

First I start with a daily briefing with my todos (Things) and events for today. I also read a lot of news with my Google Reader app (Newsrack) which also syncs with my iPhone, so I always see whats new around the tech world.

Through the day I need it to get quick information about tech or other stuff. I also use it for social networks like facebook, twitter and so on.

iPad iTap RDP

With Apps like iTap RDP I can use it to control Windows Server in our Datacenter and create and read notes with Evernote. There is also a pretty cool Powershell Guide for the iPhone and the iPad called iPowershell.

iPadAt home I use it as a Remote Controller for iTunes, my Dreambox and other things. And if I have a moment i don’t need it, I use it as a Picture frame.

Important to note, the iPad does not replace my notebook or my iPhone, but there are a lot of new things, I never thought about I could do this way.

HP iLO3: What’s new

HP iLO3

With the new G7 Serverline, HP released also iLO 3 (HP Integrated Lights-Out). With new and important features:

  • 800% faster remote console: best-in-class remote management performance
  • 360% faster Virtual Media: higher performance remote deployment and updates
  • Improved Windows Integrated Remote Console: .NET framework, so you can scale your remote console to fit your screen and even stretch across multiple monitors
  • Linux Integrated Remote Console: Linux IRC incorporates remote console, virtual media, and virtual power, so you can handle these tasks with one applet
  • AES Encryption in hardware: industrial-strength security with no performance penalty
  • Enhanced IPMI LAN Support: simple server control in scale-out environments
  • iLO Advanced is already included with the purchase of HP Insight Control for Complete lifecycle management for your ProLiant server and can also be purchased stand alone.