MCM/MCSM & MCA R.I.P. (Update)

Posted on by
6

mcsmlogo Still recovering from the announcement to retire TechNet, IT Professionals get dealt another blow by the announcement retirement of the Microsoft Certified Master (MCM), Microsoft Certified Solutions Master (MCSM) and Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA) programs:

“We are contacting you to let you know we are making a change to the Microsoft Certified Master, Microsoft Certified Solutions Master, and Microsoft Certified Architect certifications. As technology changes so do Microsoft certifications and as such, we are continuing to evolve the Microsoft certification program. Microsoft will no longer offer Masters and Architect level training rotations and will be retiring the Masters level certification exams as of October 1, 2013. The IT industry is changing rapidly and we will continue to evaluate the certification and training needs of the industry to determine if there’s a different certification needed for the pinnacle of our program.”
(For the complete e-mail, consult MSFT and MCSM:Messaging trainer Neil Johnson’s blog here).

This announcement is causing quite a stir in the community and those having or aspiring the certifications mentioned. The general response is – I’ll use a less stronger word here – disappointment over the decision and the impression is that, together with the cancellation of TechNet (and perhaps what still lies ahead), this is part of Microsoft’s grand scheme to push their cloud strategy upon us. I can only assume that angry IT professionals mob is considered collateral damage.the-spanish-inquisition-framed

What also seems to frustrate people is the timing and notice period. First, the e-mail (which is the only information available at the moment) was sent on Saturday morning (GMT+1, so still Friday in the US) with labor day coming up on Monday in the US (holiday). Second, rotations are no longer offered as of now and exams will retire per October 1st, 2013. I read some tweets of people set for a rotation in October, receiving a 1 month cancellation notice. It can be real painful if you went to a rotation but still need to take the exam. That seems impossible and is bad PR. That’ll be some interesting e-mail messages and phone calls on Tuesday for @MSLearning, I reckon.

Given the full certification program costs $18k and recertification nearly $14k, apart from pre-reading, study, time and travel invested, some joined – or got employers to send them to MCSM – achieving to become a skilled IT Professional certified at a level which can compete with high level certifications provided by vendors like Cisco, making IT professionals stand out of the crowd, at the price of triennial recertification.Some customers even put in MCSM/MCA certification as a requirement for certain projects; that’s how MCSM/MCA is valued.

Now that total investment is set to expire forever. In what looks like an attempt at downplaying the impact of this, current MCM, MCSM and MCA certified may now to keep their credential and are not required to recertify, which was a requirement of the MCSM program to stay certified. But to be honest, how is an “MCM:Exchange 2007” certification valued by customers in 2013 when there are products of 2 newer generations?

Some responses from the community; as you can see, it doesn’t only hurt the Exchange and Lync professionals:

What are your thoughts on the MCM/MCSM/MCA retirement? Let me know in the comments.

Someone from the SQL community opened up an item on Connect where you can vote to keep MCSM. When you disagree with the termination of MCSM/MCA, let your voice be heard there as well.

Update (30aug): Tim Sneath, Sr. Director at MS Learning, provided a response on the decision to retire MCM/MCSM and MCA certifications in the comments section here.

Update (7Sep): The Connect item has been removed due to “trolling” per request of the original poster, Jen Stirrup. So, you can’t vote anymore and the feedback from the community on the decision – including Tim Sneath’s response – is now unavailable. You can find a cached copy of the page here and a copy of Sneath’s integral response here.

Update (10Sep): Apparently there was a (250 capped!) conference call yesterday, where MS claimed the program wasn’t delivering up to expectations (of MS Learning). Going after the article, it was more of Tim Sneath monologue as MCM/MCSM/MCA weren’t allowed to put anything on the table. What was announced was the following:

  • Exam offerings are extended for addional 90 days (December);
  • Refunds for those who have taken courses in order to achieve MCM/MCSM/MCA certification;
  • Preservation of course material until 2016.

 

Rerelease of MS13-06/KB2874216 for Exchange 2013

Posted on by
1

Ex2013 LogoToday the rereleases of MS13-061 Security Fix for Exchange 2013 CU1 and Exchange 2013 CU2 saw daylight. This security update KB2874216 fixes the issue described in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS13-061 and supposedly fixes the issues found with the original release. After installing the v2 patch, the version will be upped 2 notches compared to the original patch.

As mentioned in an earlier article, security fixes are Cumulative Update level specific. In practice, this means there are two different versions of the security update patch file: one for CU1 and one for CU2.

Be advised both files carry the same file name, Exchange2013-KB2874216-v2-x64-en.msp. I suggest adding some form of Cumulative Update identification to the file name when you archive it, e.g. Exchange2013-KB2874216-v2-x64-en-CU2.msp.

As with any patch or update, I’d recommend to thoroughly test this in a test and acceptance environment first, prior to implementing it in production. If you don’t have the resources and risk management can agree, you might want to consider postponing implementation for a short period while monitoring for issues in the online.

You can download the security updates here:

Fix for MS13-061 breaking Exchange 2013 (Updated)

Posted on by
14

Ex2013 LogoUPDATE: The MS13-061 security update for Exchange 2013 CU1 & CU2 has been pulled until further notice. Microsoft recommends not installing MSI13-061 at the moment and disable Data Loss Prevention and WebReady as described in the Oracle Outside In Contains Multiple Exploitable Vulnerabilities section in the MS13-061 bulletin.

After some people reported issues after installing the MS13-061 (KB2874216) security update on Exchange 2013, it turns out MS13-061 breaks your installation of Exchange 2013 and you can experience the following symptoms:

  • The Microsoft Exchange Search Host Controller service is missing;
  • You see a new service named “Host Controller service for Exchange”;
  • Content index (CI) for mailbox databases shows Failed on affected server.

This is described in KB2879739 including the ‘workaround’, which is consists of three steps:

  1. Set HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Search Foundation for Exchange\Data Directory to $exinstall\Bin\Search\Ceres\HostController\Data (REG_SZ), where $exinstall is the installation folder of your Exchange 2013 installation folder, e.g. C:\Program Files\Microsoft\Exchange Server\V15\Bin\Search\Ceres\HostController\Data;
  2. Set HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\HostControllerService\DisplayName=”Microsoft Exchange Search Host Controller” (REG_SZ);
  3. Set HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\HostControllerService\DependOnService=”http” (REG_MULTI_SZ);
  4. (Re)start the “Microsoft Exchange Search Host Controller” service.

For your convenience, I’ve create a small quick & dirty script as a potential time saver (as far as you can call a three-liner a script and don’t expect extensive error handling as well). This script Workaround-KB2879739.ps1 performs the steps described in the KB2879739 so you can run it right after deploying MS13-061 / KB2874216 on your Exchange 2013 server.

You can download the script here.

MS13-061 Security Fix for Exchange 2013 (updated)

Posted on by
2

Ex2013 LogoUPDATE: The MS13-061 security update for Exchange 2013 CU1 & CU2 has been pulled until further notice.If you have installed it, there are issues with it which can be fixed (link). Microsoft recommends not installing MSI13-061 at the moment and disable Data Loss Prevention and WebReady as described in the Oracle Outside In Contains Multiple Exploitable Vulnerabilities section in the MS13-061 bulletin.

Today the Exchange Team released the first Security Update for Exchange 2013. This security update KB2874216 fixes the issue described in Microsoft Security Bulletin MS13-061.

As mentioned in an earlier article, security fixes are Cumulative Update level specific. How that would turn out in practice remained to be seen at the time of writing that article, but at the moment it means there are two different versions of the security update, one patch file for CU1 and one for CU2 (or the re-release of CU2 actually, version 15.0.712.24 – more information on that here). I assume the .MSP format limits the ability to merge the two and let it make an intelligent decision on what to install.

Be warned that both files carry the same file name, I suggest adding some form of Cumulative Update identification to the file name when archiving it, e.g. Exchange2013-KB2874216-x64-en-CU2.msp.

As with any patch or update, I’d recommend to thoroughly test this in a test and acceptance environment first, prior to implementing it in production.

You can download the security updates here:

The UC Architects Podcast Ep26

Posted on by
Reply

iTunes-Podcast-logo[1]After some amazing fast editing by our Andre Price, we can announce the availability of the 26th episode of The UC Architects podcast.

This episode is hosted by Steve Goodman, who’s joined by Johan Veldhuis, Michael van Horenbeeck, Pat Richard, Justin Morris, Ståle Hansen and yours truly.

Amongst the topics discussed in this episode are:

  • Exchange Server 2013 Deployment Assistant Updated
  • NoReplyAll Outlook Add-in by Microsoft Research
  • DAGs and Windows Azure (with a side topic..support!)
  • Exchange 2013 CU2 Language Packs
  • Sefautil GUI
  • Why you should and shouldn’t configure unique conference IDs in Lync
  • Lync Phone Edition update – July 2013
  • Lync Server 2013 CU2 Federated Provider List update – keep your PIC comms flowing
  • LAura: A cool presence app for Lync
  • Two factor authentication now available with Lync 2013
  • Automating the Lync client using PowerShell
  • Event Zero’s Federation Tester now has improved feedback for better debugging and diagnostics
  • Review: Plantronics Blackwire C720-M headset
  • Exchange Connections reminder

More information on the podcast including references and a link to download the podcast directly here or you can subscribe to the podcasts using iTunes, Zune or use the RSS feed.

About
The UC Architects is a community podcast by people with a passion for Unified Communications; our main focus is on Exchange, Lync or related subjects.