Microsoft Identity Manager online resources (#MIM2016)

1. Quick note on Microsoft Learn & Docs
2. Microsoft news and announcements
   1. Microsoft Product support lifecycle
   2. Feeds
3. Official documentation – Microsoft
   1. Getting prepared
   2. Best practices
   3. Deployment documentation
   4. MIM for developers
   5. MIM reference material
4. Github
   1. (Microsoft) MIM Configuration Documenter
   2. (Microsoft) Workflow Activity Library (WAL)
   3. MIM projects
5. Microsoft Community
   1. Forums (Active)
   2. Microsoft Answers
   3. Forums (Achive)
   4. Technet blogs archive
   5. Experts Exchange
   6. Microsoft Wiki
      1. FIM/MIM related content (check the tags)
      2. ILM/FIM/MIM article overview
      3. ILM/FIM/MIM Troubleshooting
   7. The FIM/MIM geek blogs & posts…
6. Social Media
   1. Facebook
   2. Twitter
7. Books
   1. Online Companion guide for MIM 2016 book
8. Visio Stencils
9. Archives
   1. Microsoft Learn – previous versions

Quick note on Microsoft Learn & Docs

A while ago Microsoft moved from Docs (Docs.microsoft.com) to Learn (Learn.microsoft.com), but still some older information might point to the Docs links. In case the redirect fails, replace the docs prefix in the URL to learn an try again.
If it still fails, Bing it and let me know.

Microsoft news and announcements

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-identity-manager/microsoft-identity-manager-2016
• https://support.microsoft.com/en-US/search/results?query=microsoft+identity+manager&isEnrichedQuery=false
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-identity-manager/reference/version-history
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-identity-manager/reference/microsoft-identity-manager-2016-connector-version-history

Microsoft Product support lifecycle

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/?terms=Identity

Feeds

• https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/rss-feed-picker
• Atom: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/feed/atom/953e6581-605c-e03f-3595-5f98899c1d1d
• RSS: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/feed/rss/953e6581-605c-e03f-3595-5f98899c1d1d

Official documentation – Microsoft

• Microsoft Learn- MIM landing page: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-identity-manager
• Microsoft Identity Manager 2016 news and updates: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-identity-manager/microsoft-identity-manager-2016
• Version History: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-identity-manager/reference/version-history

Getting prepared

Supported platforms: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-identity-manager/microsoft-identity-manager-2016-supported-platforms

Best practices

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-identity-manager/mim-best-practices

Deployment documentation

• Capacity planning: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-identity-manager/capacity-planning-guide
• Deploy and use: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-identity-manager/microsoft-identity-manager-deploy
• Deprecated features: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-identity-manager/microsoft-identity-manager-2016-deprecated-features

MIM for developers

• •Microsoft Identity Manager 2016 developer reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-identity-manager/reference/microsoft-identity-manager-2016-developer-reference
• •Microsoft Identity Manager Cmdlets Reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/microsoft-identity-manager/overview?view=idm-ps-2016sp1

MIM reference material

• Developer reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-identity-manager/reference/microsoft-identity-manager-2016-developer-reference
• Functions reference: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-identity-manager/reference/mim2016-functions-reference
• Management agent run error codes: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-identity-manager/reference/maerrorcodes
• RCDC configuration XML: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-identity-manager/reference/rcd-configuration-xml-reference

Github

(Microsoft) MIM Configuration Documenter

https://github.com/microsoft/MIMConfigDocumenter

(Microsoft) Workflow Activity Library (WAL)

https://github.com/microsoft/MIMWAL

MIM projects

https://github.com/search?q=mim2016

Microsoft Community

Forums (Active)

• Tech Community : https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/

• Microsoft Learn – Q&A : https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/search.html?type=question%20OR%20idea%20OR%20kbentry%20OR%20answer%20OR%20topic%20OR%20user&redirect=search%2Fsearch&sort=relevance&q=identity%20manager

Microsoft Answers

• •Microsoft Answers: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/search/search?SearchTerm=MIM%202016
• •FIM 2010: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/search/search?SearchTerm=FIM%202010

Forums (Achive)

• (archive) Technet forum FIM/MIM: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/home?forum=ilm2&filter=alllanguages
• (archive) Technet Forum ILM 2007: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/home?forum=identitylifecyclemanager&filter=alllanguages

Technet blogs archive

Technet blogs archive: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/

• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/iamsupport/
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/connector_space/
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/identitymanagement/
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/idaguys/
• https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/imex/

Experts Exchange

• Experts Exchange: https://www.experts-exchange.com/searchResults.jsp?searchTerms=MIM2016

Microsoft Wiki

• Microsoft Wiki: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki
• Short URL: https://aka.ms/wiki

FIM/MIM related content (check the tags)

• MIM: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/tags/MIM/default.aspx
• https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/tags/MIM+2016/default.aspx
• https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/tags/MIM+2016/default.aspx
• https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/tags/FIM/default.aspx
• https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/tags/FIM+2010/default.aspx

ILM/FIM/MIM article overview

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/3610.fim-2010-mim-2016-related-wiki-articles.aspx

ILM/FIM/MIM Troubleshooting

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/3610.fim-2010-mim-2016-related-wiki-articles.aspx#FIM_Troubleshooting_Article

The FIM/MIM geek blogs & posts…

Below you’ll find some interesting and helpful articles and posts (some of the are old/archived… But still valid for MIM too.)

In alphabetic order (on last name)

• Bob Bradley: https://idm4real.com/
• Blain Checkly: https://identityminded.wordpress.com/
• Jorge de Almeida Pinto (MVP): https://jorgequestforknowledge.wordpress.com/
• Soren Granfeldt: https://github.com/sorengranfeldt
• Antony Ho (Microsoft) : https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/archive/blogs/aho/
• Jeff Ingalls (https://ingallsdesigns.com/),
• Borys Majewski (http://idarchitect.net/)
• Ryan Newington (https://twitter.com/RyanLNewington): https://lithnet.io/products/mim
• Kent Nordstrom: https://konab.com/blog/
• Darren Robinson: https://blog.darrenjrobinson.com/identity-manager-management-agents/
• Carol Wapshere: https://www.wapshere.com/missmiis/rcdc-memberof-list
• …

Social Media

Facebook

• https://www.facebook.com/groups/MicrosoftIdentityManager/

Twitter

• https://twitter.com/search?q=%23MIM2016
• https://twitter.com/hashtag/fim2010r2

Books

• https://www.davidplundell.com/fim-best-practices-volume-1
• https://www.packtpub.com/product/microsoft-identity-manager-2016-handbook/9781785283925
• https://konab.com/fim-2010-r2-book/

Online Companion guide for MIM 2016 book

• https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/34993.microsoft-identity-manager-2016-handbook-online-companion-guide.aspx

Visio Stencils

https://github.com/PeterGeelen/Microsoft-Identity-Manager/tree/main/FIM-MIM%20stencils

Archives

Microsoft Learn – previous versions

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/desktop/forefront-2010/ee652263(v=vs.100)

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!

Fresh on TNWiki: MIM 2016 Troubleshooting: The installation just hanging without error, warning, log, Event-log

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Published on TNWIKI: MIM 2016 Troubleshooting: The installation just hanging without error, warning, log, Event-log

Credits

This issue was initially reported by
Guy Horn on LinkedIN, republished with permission.

(Guy Horn’s LinkedIn profile)

Issue

When you try to install MIM, it continuously fails.

You can’t  add .NET Framework 3.5.

Symptoms

The installation was just hanging without error, warning, log, Event-log

Root cause

The problem was that some features were removed from the Windows Server Image.

Solution

NetFx3 should be specified and not ‘Net-Framework-Core’.

After re-adding the feature just ‘Add-WindowsFeature Net-Framework-Core’.

Detecting the issue

Run this PowerShell command, to find the removed features

# This command shows removed items from the Windows Azure Server 2016 Datacenter image. Get-WindowsFeature | Where-Object -FilterScript {($_.installstate -like “Removed”)}

Solution

Restore the optional feature

# This command restores the optional feature, MyFeature, to the Online Windows image. If the files are not found in the source image, this command specifies not to check Windows Update for the source files. Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName “NetFx3” -Source f:\sources\sxs -LimitAccess -All

Add .NET FW core

# Add the feature Add-WindowsFeature -name net-framework-core

Script

# This command shows removed items from the Windows Azure Server 2016 Datacenter image. Get-WindowsFeature | Where-Object -FilterScript {($_.installstate -like “Removed”)}   # This command restores the optional feature, MyFeature, to the Online Windows image. If the files are not found in the source image, this command specifies not to check Windows Update for the source files. Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName “NetFx3” -Source f:\sources\sxs -LimitAccess -All   # Add the feature Add-WindowsFeature -name net-framework-core

 

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#MIM2016 Troubleshooting: SQL Connection issues

On TNWiki you’ll find my latest article on MIM 2016 troubleshooting.

MIM 2016 Troubleshooting: SQL Connection issues

This week I got (dragged into/) involved in a MIM 2016 performance troubleshooting, on a test / dev server, facing a large bunch of errors.

The first detection happened on the sync server, but apparently rather it’s twin brother was causing the issues.

It became pretty quickly obvious that MIM was not able to connect to (one of) it’s databases on the SQL server, so the sync engine was unable to pull information from the MIM service.

Also bizar, we could still work on the MIM sync GUI, but almost any MA action in the GUI failed…

Furthermore the Portal did not respond and finally the “MIM Service” service, didn’t behave as expected, not willing to start.

The event viewer contained the obvious amount of errors…

Finally,  the SQL DBA to the rescue.

I’ve added a lot of significant technical event info into the article, to make it easy to search for you, for later reference.

Read the tech details in: MIM 2016 Troubleshooting: SQL Connection issues

Updated: 2020-12-29

Note-to-self: #MIM2016 product feedback

Just in case you want to dump some frustrations or constructive feedback on the MIM 2016 product, eg requests & suggestions for features, you should bookmark this feedback forum:

https://feedback.azure.com/forums/169401-azure-active-directory?category_id=171231

 

Updated: 2020-12-29

Note-to-self: #MIM2016 Strategy and Roadmap

ICMY, a few days ago, Mark Wahl and David Steadman hosted an online session on the Microsoft Identity Manager Strategy and Roadmap (VIR956PAL).

You can watch it over here: https://infopedia.eventbuilder.com/view?eventid=m7e7v6

Over the years, competition and non-believers of Microsoft Identity Management have been advocating it’s death… The phrase is returning now and then, pretty much in sync with the usual MS product lifecycle…

Of course, products and features change, the business is changing… the product is changing..
But the MS team is investing significant effort to keep track of these business requirements.

So, get this:

MIM… is … NOT … dead.

 

 

Note-To-Self: ICYMI, #MIM2016 Support for SQL Always On Availability groups

Based on a recent customer support experience with MIM (migrating from MIM 2016 RTM to SP1 latest hotfix), I ran into a few issues…

They have been documented here:

• MIM 2016 Service and Portal Troubleshooting: Hotfix installation failure (Unauthorized operation)
• MIM 2016 Service and Portal Troubleshooting: Hotfix installation failure (deployment or retraction is already under way)

And also

• MIM 2016 Troubleshooting: no-start-bad-ma-configuration 

While investigating the MIM Performance, we bumped into some SQL configuration issues, seriously impacting the MIM performance.
Finally ending up with staging the latest hotfix on MIM… (which is in general always a good idea and best practice).

But, talking the SQL performance, in that troubleshooting exercise another question popped up, again: Always on Availability groups.

And while this has been an issues for long time, the good news is : as of MIM 2016 SP1 (4.4.1459.0 or Later), Always On Availability groups are now supported.

You can find the announcement here: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/iamsupport/2017/03/22/microsoft-identity-manager-2016-sp14-4-1459-0-or-later-support-for-sql-2016-always-on-availability-groups/

Strangely enough it’s not mentioned in the KB article for the hotfix: SP1 March 2017 Hotfix (4.4.1459.0),

Still, the page on SQL Server availability solutions for Microsoft Identity Manager services databases, is not mentioning AoA, see here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3200896/sql-server-availability-solutions-for-microsoft-identity-manager-servi

So, you need to keep that one in your MIM knowledge backpack.

Updated: 2020-12-29

Note-to-self: #MIM2016 & #FIM2010 Config documenter released on GitHub

Source: Announcement on MIM 2016 Group on LinkedIn by  Jef Kazimer

Source Code: https://github.com/Microsoft/MIMConfigDocumenter

Jef announced that the Identity Community Projects team has published the MIM Config Documenter tool to the Microsoft GitHub Organization as an open source community project.

The MIM configuration documenter is a very nice and easy tool to generate documentation of a MIM / FIM synchronization or service installation.

It allows to: 

• Document deployment configuration details for the MIM / FIM solution, including MIMWAL Workflow definitions
• Track any configuration changes you have made since a specific baseline
• Build confidence in getting things right when making changes to the deployed solution

You can find the project code, releases, and documentation at https://github.com/Microsoft/MIMConfigDocumenter

 

#MIM2016 Troubleshooting: Uninstall fails with error – Administrator privileges are required to run installer. Please re-launch installer with administrator privileges.

I’ve got a new post up on TechNet Wiki about MIM2016 troubleshooting:

Full version at the TNWIKI: MIM2016/FIM2010 Troubleshooting: Uninstall fails with error – Administrator privileges required

Feel free to add useful information yourself, I’m looking forward to your feedback and cooperation to make it better.

The short version is below.

Rikard Strand has published a similar article, which has served as baseline for this article. Rik’s article is focussed on DirSync, but the troubleshooting below is more widely applicable and even programs not related to FIM/MIM/DirSync…

When you try to uninstall or to change the component from the Control Panel > Programs (Uninstall a program), you get a error pop up, saying:

Administrator privileges are required to run installer. Please re-launch installer with administrator privileges.

 

There are some troubleshooting steps, including running the Control Panel in administrator mode.

 

If that doesn’t work, you need to find the uninstaller info in the registry and run the msiexec command with the uninstaller info.

Open the registry editor and navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\

In this directory you’ll find the installed programs with their GUID, which is mostly fixed per application.

Eg

• MIM 2016: {5A7CB0A3-7AA2-4F40-8899-02B83694085F}
• DirSync/AADConnect: {C9139DEA-F758-4177-8E0F-AA5B09628136}

And finally, the quick and dirty option is to kill the uninstall registry key before your run the uninstall from the control panel again

In case of MIM2016

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{5A7CB0A3-7AA2-4F40-8899-02B83694085F}

 

You know the usual warning: I didn’t tell you to delete the registry key.

Last update: 2020-12-30

Note-to-self: Hotfix rollup package (build 4.4.1459.0) is available for #MIM2016 SP1

Microsoft has released an hotfix for MIM2016 SP, with an awful lot of updates and improvements.. to much to list… but more to read:

See here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4012498/hotfix-rollup-package-build-4-4-1459-0-is-available-for-microsoft-iden

Last update: 2020-12-30