Planet Lowyat

Microsoft ISA Server 2006 Service Pack 1 have been released!

The new features focus on configuration change management and enhanced troubleshooting designed to help you identify and resolve ISA Server configuration issues within the ISA Server Management console.

The service pack includes the following new features and feature improvements:

• Configuration Change Tracking—Registers all configuration changes applied to ISA Server to help you assess issues that may occur as a result of these changes.
• Test Button—Tests the consistency of a Web publishing rule between the published server and ISA Server.
• Traffic Simulator—Simulates network traffic in accordance with specified request parameters, such as an internal user and the Web server, providing information about firewall policy rules evaluated for the request.
• Diagnostic Logging Viewer—Now integrated as a tab into the ISA Server Management console, this feature displays detailed events on packet progress and provides information about handling and rule matching.
Improvements for existing features, including:
• Support for integrated NLB mode in all three modes, including unicast, multicast, and multicast with Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP). Previously, ISA Server integrated NLB-supported unicast mode only.
• Support for use of server certificates containing multiple Subject Alternative Name (SAN) entries. Previously, ISA Server was able to use either only either the subject name (common name) of a server certificate, or the first entry in the SAN list.
• Support for Kerberos Constrained Delegation (KCD) cross-domain authentication. Credentials from users located in a different domain than the ISA Server, but in the same forest, can now be delegated to an internal published Web site by using KCD .
• Support for client certificate authentication in a workgroup deployment. This removes the requirement to map each client certificate to an Active Directory® directory user account.

For more information about this service pack, see Microsoft Article 943462.
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Shit! My Windows Vista x64 Service Pack 1 RC build expire soon. I was download Windows Vista X64 SP1 RC build few month back from MSDN and it’s going to expire end of the June 2008.

Hi there -

Quick reminder for all of you out there who helped test Windows Vista SP1 and may still be running Release Candidate builds (any build less than 6.0.6001.18000). The RC builds will expire on June 30th - so if you happen to running one, be sure to uninstall it before the end of the month. More info is available in the SP1 Forum.

Thanks,

From Microsoft Update Product Team Blog.

How do you know if you’re running a pre-release build?

If your desktop says “For Evaluation Purposes”, you are running time-limited beta/RC software and will need to uninstall.  Another check is to hit the start button and type “WinVer” – if it lists an expiration date then you have a time-limited version of SP1.

How do you uninstall pre-release versions of Vista SP1?

If you installed SP1 Beta/RC as an update to an existing RTM version of Vista, you can probably uninstall it directly.  For instructions on how to uninstall SP1, please see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948537.  The best way is to uninstall from the “Programs and Features” control panel icon, using the “View Installed Updates” option on the left, click Service Pack for Microsoft Windows (KB936330), and then click Uninstall.

If you did a full install (a.k.a clean install) of SP1 from a DVD or network share, or updated an RTM version using the DVD to do an upgrade full install, there is no uninstall method; we recommend you back up your data, reformat, and start with an RTM DVD (and then install SP1) or a final SP1 integrated install DVD.  While you may be able to force upgrade using a full install upgrade, this isn’t a recommended practice over the Beta or RC version of SP1.

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According to Windows Vista Blog,

starting tomorrow, we can resume the Windows Vista automatic update and installation of the Servicing Stack Update.

I have a quick update for you about Windows Vista SP1. The Microsoft Update Blog contains some important information about updates to the SP1 prerequisite distribution plan. Starting tomorrow, we are resuming the automatic update and installation of the Servicing Stack Update.

In mid-April, we will begin distributing SP1 (in the first 5 languages) using the Automatic Update system. We have a lot of Windows users, so not everyone will get it on the same day. In fact, it will go to a small percentage of Windows Vista users each day. The exact timing of when you will receive it depends on when your PC is ready for Windows Vista SP1.

In addition to starting the automatic delivery of the first 5 languages, I wanted to take this opportunity to tell you that also we’re on track for the initial release of SP1 in the remaining languages in mid-April.

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Microsoft Corp. is offering free support to any Windows Vista user experiencing problems with installing Service Pack 1 (SP1), according to a company spokesman.

“[Anyone] needing technical support regarding your installation of Windows Vista SP1, please go to the following URL and choose the bottom option that says, ‘Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (All Languages),’” said Brandon LeBlanc, a Microsoft employee who posted several comments to the company’s Vista blog. The link LeBlanc pointed users to led to a Vista SP1-specific support site.

“You have a variety of options you can choose for support, all of which will not cost you any support fee,” said LeBlanc. “I repeat: Support for SP1 will not cost you anything.”

“That’s a good move on their part,” said Michael Cherry, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft.

The SP1 site offers support via e-mail, online chat and telephone, and it lists hours of operation for the last two options. Free phone support, for instance, is available from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Pacific time on weekdays and from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. Pacific time on weekends. The free support will be available for one year, and it covers installation and compatibility issues.

Normally, Microsoft offers no-cost support only to users who bought Windows at retail. Users who obtained the operating system already installed on a PC are referred to the computer manufacturer or reseller; the company’s for-fee support runs $59 per request unless the user or business has a prepaid support plan with Microsoft.

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Microsoft will feed Windows Vista users an update in the next week to finger illegal copies installed with cracks that the company will bust when it rolls out Service Pack 1 (SP1) in mid-March.

The ‘update’ which will go out via Windows Update (WU) and install automatically on most Vista machines, will detect two cracks commonly used to activate pirated copies of the operating system. The cracks evade Vista’s built-in counterfeit-detection technology by sidestepping product activation and spoofing a legitimate installation.

One of the cracks, “Grace Timer,” extends Vista’s activation grace period, which is normally 30 days, until the year 2099. The other, called OEM BIOS, modifies system files and the PC’s BIOS to mimic the product activation done by computer-makers at the factory.

Both cracks will be blocked by Vista SP1, the major update that will hit WU as an optional download in mid-March and automatically download and install the next month.

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