MVP

10x times thank you for your support! #mvpbuzz

If you’re in my community and professional network you must have witnessed a wave of Microsoft MVP #mvpbuzz announcements and notifications, early july on the various social media, Twitter, LinkedIN, blogs… a bit later than usual this year.

I was part of it, but due to personal reasons and summer vacation early July, I only had time till now to process it…

Certainly this year is a special year for me, a lot of things have changed professionally.
And when another special award disk dropped in the mail box just a few days ago, I can proudly announce that I’m honored to be awarded the Microsoft MVP award for the 10th time.
You work hard for it, hope for it, but never know if you have met the tough expectations.

[If you want to know more about the Microsoft MVP award, check this page on the MVP site. It’s a reward for a select expert community with great passion for Microsoft technologies, for all community efforts for last year.]


Honestly, it’s not about these white and blue glass disks, but appreciation for the passion and effort in the Microsoft community, to be recognized for the passion in Microsoft Security, more specifically Identity & Access.

And I certainly welcome the program change where the group of MVP “Enterprise Mobility” now moved to MVP Security, which aligns better with reality, what I stand for.

But I could never have achieved this with the great help and support of you, my audience.
So want to thank you, more than 10x for this.

Thank you!

This award is for you, because YOU are my most valuable professional who made this possible.

I’m honored and humbled that I’m part of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) community award for another year.


As explained on the program page “MVPs, are technology experts who passionately share their knowledge with the community.” It’s an award for your Microsoft community work of the past year… you can find more details on the MVP website mentioned earlier.

But building community is not a one-person activity, not a job, …

It’s a passion, it’s fun, sharing knowledge and best practices with many people over the world, all eager to build community.

And last year (or longer) has been very challenging to keep the community running without face-2-face events, shifting to online only. It was hard work. And the MVP award renewal cycle has been very special this year, taking into account the Corona conditions.

But nevertheless, I can’t keep up this work without support of you, my dearest colleagues, partners, technology experts, community fellows, my audience, …
I won’t list any specific person, because I would not do honor to all the rest… too many to list.

Therefor a big shout out of gratitude for your support.

Thank YOU for supporting me, making this possible.

I dedicate this award to you, to your support. This is your award.


In the world of security, cyber- and cloud security, sharing knowledge is one of the most important principles to win the battle against cybercrime. Learn from the mistakes others have made.

I’m doing my best to keep up the work and to meet the bar of excellence, to be an community lead, to build community and to share knowledge.

This award and your appreciation gives me the extra motivation to keep going and do better next year!

Thank you!




Note-to-Self: workaround for bcc (blind copy) of meeting requests in Outlook

This article has also been posted on Microsoft Wiki, feel free to add suggestions and extra information.

Outlook Quick Tip: workaround for bcc (blind copy) of meeting requests

Issue

For meeting requests in Microsoft Outlook, the program does not have a bcc (aka Blind copy) option to add participants to a meeting, without publishing all personal data (mail addresses) to the other participants. 

Microsoft is aware of the issue, but hasn’t fixed the option yet.

Still you can request to have this option or request this function in Outlook, via Windows Feedback hub (hit the W10 Windows button, and type feedback) of via Microsoft Tech Community or Microsoft Q&A.

Visibility of participants to other participants

When you add participants to the “Required” or “Optional” section, they can see each others mail addresses. For smaller groups of people, that probably know each other, it’s not a big thing.

But for public events, this might be an issue. And certainly for large groups of participants, this is an overload of information.

And additionally, it might be considered as an inconvenience (or even a data breach) to publish data of other participants in a large group.

Limiting visibility to other participants

For matters of data protection it would be very handy to send the invite to the participants without exposing too much data.

Work around

As the bcc: option is missing, you can add people to the “Resources” option.

Steps

Create a new meeting request.

In the meeting options select, the “Required” or “Optional” button.

Then in the resources option, add the contacts or mail addresses of the participants.

Then add the required information to the invite, including online meeting options (Teams, …) and send the mail.

Alternative option : using iCAL file option via mail

Another option is

  1.  to create an meeting in your agenda,
  2. add the required meeting details (including teams invite)
  3. Save the meeting as iCAL file
  4. Create a mail,
    1. add the iCAL file
    2. add the the participants in bbc

References

More information can be found in these articles:

Resource option

Reddit

iCAL Option

Slipstick

RocketIT

Microsoft MVP for another year: Thank you!

Just a few hours ago, I got the confirmation that I was awarded the 2019-2020 Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award.

It’s a yearly award granted by Microsoft to community leaders and influencers who passionately share their knowledge and drive the MS community.

For some it’s the ultimate goal to get in the MVP program, but as the reward is granted year after year again, based on your impact of last year, it’s never sure you’re in for the next round.
It’s not about the award, but about the drive and mindset to build community. You can’t simply keep up if you don’t have the drive.

But more important, you simply can’t keep up without support.

So I’m proud to receive this award.

And I’m utterly grateful that lots of people around support me in this, very close and very far.

Thank you, my dearest wife and kids to keep me alive.

Thank you, dearest Microsoft TechNet Wiki Geeks (TOO MANY to list here), you keep me going.

Thank you, Ed Price, the greatest Wiki Wizz Kid,

Thank you Tina for supporting the MVP BeNelux and Nordic Community manager.

And many many others, … without you I could not do this!
I dedicate this award to you.

Thank you.

Microsoft MVP for another year…

Today I received some exciting news: I was re-awarded the Microsoft MVP award for Enterprise Mobility (Identity & Access).

https://mvp.microsoft.com/en-us/PublicProfile/5002204?WT.mc_id=ES-MVP-5002204

“Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals, or MVPs, are technology experts who passionately share their knowledge with the community.“

It’s my 6th award since 2008 (with a break as Microsoft Employee from 2012 to 2016).

But what is more important: I couldn’t achieve this without the help of the Microsoft Community, more specific with the help of the highly motivated TechNet Wiki Ninja’s 

To all who made this possible: thank you very much for supporting me.

Highly appreciated!!

Updated: 2012-12-29

Note-to-self: MVA Learning Path – Security for the Chief Security Officer (CSO)

From a LinkedIn connection (thx Jeff and congratz on the achievement) I received an interesting pointer to a set of courses on MVA, Microsoft Virtual Academy.

An MVA ‘learning path’ is a combination of learning courses.
Just recently MVA published the ‘Security for the Chief Security Officer (CSO)’ learning path.

Check it out at : https://mva.microsoft.com/learning-path/security-for-the-chief-security-officer-cso-21

It combines 6 courses (better make sure to access them from the learning path):

  1. How to Harden Your Enterprise in Today’s Threat Landscape
  2. Cybersecurity Reference Architecture
  3. Planning for a Security Incident
  4. Cloud Security from the Field
  5. Securing Privileged Access
  6. Introduction to Azure Security Center

BTW: have a look on the ‘security’ based content on Microsoft Virtual Academy, you’ll be surprised how much you can (continue to) learn.

See: https://mva.microsoft.com/search/SearchResults.aspx#!q=security

Last Updated: 2020-12-29

Thank you!

This weekend I’ve received some pretty exciting news that I was awarded the 2016 MVP award (Microsoft Most Valuable Professional) for Enterprise Mobility (Identity & Access).

mvp_logo

I’m extremely proud to receive the award, but I never could have achieved this award without your support. So, in the first place I want to thank YOU for supporting me and making it possible. With your help I certainly will continue to support and build the Microsoft and security community with great pride.

A great thanks to Ed Price, Ronen Ariely, Gokan Ozcifci and Jorge de Almeida Pinto for the support and recommendations. (I sincerely hope I haven’t forgotten anyone…) I owe you Belgian beer.

I had the honor to be part of the program earlier, and never have stopped to build and maintain the community with passion for Identity and Access management, but as combining Microsoft FTE with MVP is not possible… I had a break for the years at MS… still it was different.

I’m also extremely thankful that my wife Katrien and my 2 kids can cope with my crazy passion for TechNet Wiki and MS community obsession. This addiction is just so much fun…but I’ll never admit that. (oh ships, just did…)

Updated: 2020-12-30

#FIM2010 newsletter – looking for more interesting resources

Since a while I’ve been on the lookout for interesting, blogs, articles, sites and feeds on FIM 2010.

I’ve been gathering them in a FIM 2010 weekly newletter on paper.li : http://paper.li/geelenp/1364888465/

If you think there are sources missing from this, list, feel free to let me know.

So far, I found these:

And also

Blog feeds are filtered on keywords: FIM, FIM2010, “FIM 2010”, bhold

All suggestions are welcome to peter(at)fim2010(dot)com.

Reviewed for you: Microsoft DirectAccess Best Practices and Troubleshooting (Packt Publishing)

Packt has recently published a new book "Microsoft DirectAccess Best Practices and Troubleshooting". (http://aka.ms/PacktPub_DA_Troubleshooting)

A few weeks ago I was asked to review the book.

Written by Jordan Krause a Microsoft MVP in Enterprise Security, and specializes in DirectAccess.

Packt Publishes advertises this book is an ideal guide for any existing or future DirectAccess administrator and system administrators who are working on Windows Server 2012.

This book will also be beneficial for someone with a basic knowledge of networking and deployment of Microsoft operating systems and software who wants to learn the intricacies of DirectAccess and its interfaces.

It’s a pretty condensed book of 116 pages in total, of which 98 technical content.

Structured in 5 chapters:

Chapter 1: DirectAccess Server Best Practices
Chapter 2: DirectAccess Environmental Best Practices
Chapter 3: Configuring Manage Out to DirectAccess Clients
Chapter 4: General DirectAccess Troubleshooting
Chapter 5: Unique DirectAccess Troubleshooting Scenarios

From a technical standpoint of view, it’s an interesting read, with lot of interesting advice.

It is quite confusing that the author discusses topics which are explained in a later chapter.
ISATAP for example. Chapter 2 discusses IPv6 vs ISATAP, while chapter 3 explains the ISATAP definition ( Intra-Site Automatic Tunnel Addressing Protocol).

To build the story in the book, it would make more sense to explain the basics first as it’s key information to the topics discussed and explained. It’s a good practice to set a common ground and vocabulary first, to start off on the right foot.

But when I say condensed, it really is condensed and not only on content level. Regarding readability, some of the pages are large blocks of heavy text, long sentences, barely using white space or paragraphs. Sentences reaching 4 lines require you to read the sentence again.

Shorter sentences and using more paragraphs is a simple fix.

Although the book is packed with valuable information, I’m a bit disappointed in the fact that the book does not get it’s full potential.

It would greatly improve by putting all hints & tips in a quick list (eg in an additional chapter or quick reference card), and/or gathering the do’s and don’ts in an action list like:

Please remember:

  • There are 3 platforms providing Direct Access: Windows 2008 R2, UAG and Windows 2012. Majority of DA deployments are covered by UAG and Windows 2012 as Windows 2008 R2 is quite difficult to handle.
  • Clients must be Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows 7 ultimate or Windows 8 Enterprise
  • Windows 7 pro and Windows 8 Pro do not support Direct Access (See: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2756536)

Practical Hints & tips

  • The default gateway setting must only be defined on the external NIC
  • Name your NICs intuitively (chapter 1)
  • Set NIC binding correctly (chapter 1)
  • disable NICs not in use (ch.1)
  • Check Receive Side Scaling (RSS) (ch.1)
  • Enable spoofing of MAC addresses on VMs (ch.1)
  • Add static routes
  • Choose proper hostname
  • Join domain
  • Prestage the computer account
  • IP-HTTPS
  • DA must be a remote access platform and nothing else
  • Don’t use the Getting started wizard … + reasons (see chapter 1 of book)
  • Run the full Remote Access Setup Wizard
  • …
  • Create your own GPOs (ch.2)
  • …
  • Do not host the NLS website on the DA server
  • Set Teredo to Enterprise client
  • Use DNS Round Rbin for DA CLuster (ch.3)
  • Set client side firewall rules for each protocol needed (ch.3)
  • … (and so on)…

Furthermore, in the technical section in the book you won’t find any links to useful references, although there are plenty of opportunities to put in added value, again.

PacktPub has extremely good books that support this book:

  1. Windows Server 2012 Unified Remote Access Planning and Deployment
  2. Microsoft Forefront UAG 2010 Administrator’s Handbook
  3. Mastering Microsoft Forefront UAG 2010 Customization

Sorry, correction, the commercial part at the end refers to one of them.
But that’s not the author’s credit.

    There is a massive amount of additional reading and in depth material out-there, which the author could refer to. I’ll come to that in a second (cfr NRPT)
    I would love to get some insight in the list of hyperlinks the author frequently uses regarding this topic. Show me your favorites, man!
      The author explicitly targets existing DA administrators and “anyone interested in learning more about the technology before diving in for themselves”.

    But the index at the end of the book is missing essential acronym definitions.

    It would be nice to give the explanation with the acronym, like

    DIP, see Dedicated IP, 62,85
    UAG, see Unified Access Gateway, 36
    NRPT,see Name Resolution Policy Table, 50
    NAT, see Network Address Translation, 35-37
    GSW, see Getting Started Wizard
    …

    One stunning example is NRPT, which is frequently touched in the book, but never explained.

    Even in the simplest case a reference to some useful resources would have helped, like:

      So, I’m hoping that Packt Pub will fix the gap.

    Despite, I still consider the Microsoft DirectAccess Best Practices and Troubleshooting book as a quick reference and a companion guide for Direct Access Administrators.

    An additional (online) reference list will make this book on DirectAccess rock, like Jordan kicks off with on page 1.

    And why not building that online reference on Technet Wiki?

    Note to the layout team: a small detail to make it complete: when you use justified layout (left and right aligned), that would make the book more polished.

    Microsoft Forefront Identity Manager 2010 R2 Handbook – shortcuts

    As you know (or not) I’ve been involved in reviewing Kent Nordstrom’s book… (http://konab.com/fim-2010-r2-book/)

    You can order print and/or E-book at: http://aka.ms/FIMR2Book.

    Overview

    Page Chapter Title URL Description
    About the Author http://konab.com
    About the Reviewers http://be.linkedin.com/in/pgeelen Peter Geelen
    About the Reviewers http://aka.ms/FIM_R2_Best_Practices_Vol1 FIM R2 Best Practices Volume by David Lundell
    Support files, eBooks, http://PacktLib.PacktPub.com
    4 Preface http://aka.ms/PowerShellMA Granfeldt PowerShell MA 2.0 used to demonstrate ECMA
    5 Downloading the example code http://www.packtpub.com. extensible connectivity
    10 The Story in the book http://aka.ms/ADFSOverview Implement federation
    10 The Story in the book http://office365.microsoft.com Read more about Office 365
    19 Management agents http://aka.ms/FIMPartnerMA
    20 Management agents http://aka.ms/FIMMA
    28 FIM Licensing http://aka.ms/FIMLicense
    30 3 Installation http://aka.ms/FIMCapacityPlanning Capacity Planning
    32 3 http://aka.ms/SCSM2010Deployment SCSM for reporting
    32 3 http://aka.ms/FIMPlanning
    32 3 http://aka.ms/VirtualizationBestPractices
    35 3 http://aka.ms/FIMLanguagePacks
    35 3 http://aka.ms/SQLCollations
    35 3 http://aka.ms/SCSMCollations
    35 3 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh332707 Technet Site
    37 3 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff461010
    40 3 http://aka.ms/SCSM2010Deployment
    40 3 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/975332 AuthZ Man Hotfix
    49 3 http://blogs.msdn.com/b/chunliu/archive/2010/03/24/why-SharePoint-2010-not-use-kernel-mode-authentication-in-iis7.aspx turn off Kernel Mode authentication
    72 3 http://aka.ms/SCSM2010Ports complete list of ports required by SCSM 2010
    87 3 http://blog.konab.com/fim-2010-r2-book/reporting FIM post-install scripts for Data Warehouse
    93 4 Basic configuration http://support.microsoft.com/kb/303972 Replicating Directory Changes
    98 4 http://blogs.technet.com/b/doittoit/archive/2009/05/20/introducing-hierarchal-provisioning.aspx Hierarchical Provisioning
    101 4 http://aka.ms/FIMPreImportFilter
    104 4 http://aka.ms/FIMDeprovisioning
    116 4 http://aka.ms/FIMRunProfile
    118 4 http://aka.ms/UnderstandingFIMDeprovisioning
    118 4 http://aka.ms/FIMServiceSchema
    130 4 http://blog.konab.com/2011/09/performance-improvements-in-fim-2010-r2
    134 4 http://blog.konab.com/fim-2010-r2-book/basic-configuration/
    161 5 User management http://aka.ms/FIMDRE
    163 5 http://aka.ms/FIMMVExtension
    170 5 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305144 UAC attribute
    172 5 http://aka.ms/FIMFunctions
    173 5 http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/how-toenable-or-disable-accounts-in-active-directory-domain-service-usingfim.aspx
    200 6 Group management http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc223142 Group Type bitmask
    206 6 http://aka.ms/FIMAddIn Add-ins & extensions
    251 7 Self-service Password Reset http://aka.ms/FIMR2Upgrade
    254 7 http://aka.ms/SSPRconfigureSMSOT
    262 7 http://aka.ms/FIMR2QuickStart
    276 8 FIM & Office 365 http://fimattributestore.codeplex.com ADFS 2.0 Attribute Store for Forefront Identity Manager
    277 8 http://fim.codeplex.com .
    279 8 http://www.pointsharp.com
    285 9 Reporting http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj133843 Default Report
    289 9 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj133844 ETL Script
    294 9 http://aka.ms/FIMReporting Modifying FIM Reports
    295 9 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj133861 Extending FIM reporting
    297 10 FIM Portal Customization http://aka.ms/CustomizeFIMPortal
    300 10 http://fim2010client.codeplex.com
    314 10 http://aka.ms/FIMxPath
    319 10 http://aka.ms/RCDCRef
    321 10 http://idmcrisis.com/post/2009/11/14/Working-with-RCDCe28099s-in-Visual-Studio.aspx Working with RCDCS in Visual Studio
    325 11 Customizing Data transformations http://aka.ms/FIMFunctions
    328 11 http://aka.ms/FIMWALExample
    328 11 http://aka.ms/ECMA2
    329 11 http://aka.ms/FIMPartnerMA
    329 11 http://aka.ms/PowerShellMA
    331 11 http://aka.ms/FIMFunctions
    337 11 http://aka.ms/DebugExtension
    348 12 Issuing Smart Cards http://aka.ms/CorePKI
    348 12 http://aka.ms/FIMCMandLunaSA
    353 12 https://identityunderground.wordpress.com/2010/05/17/clm-vs-key-recovery-agent-certificatetemplate
    374 12 http://aka.ms/FIMCMPermissions
    387 12 http://fimcmextensions.codeplex.com
    390 13 Troubleshooting http://aka.ms/FIMTroubleshooting
    405 13 http://aka.ms/FIMCMTroubleshooting
    408 13 http://aka.ms/FIMBackup
    408 13 http://aka.ms/FIMCMBackup
    409 13 http://aka.ms/SPFoundationBackup
    410 13 http://aka.ms/CABackup
    411 13 Summary http://blog.konab.com/fim-2010-r2-book
    413 Afterword http://aka.ms/FIMForumTN
    Afterword http://aka.ms/FIM2010Resources
    Afterword http://aka.ms/FIM2010Wiki

    References