Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Released

I almost missed this one since it hasn't had the usual trumpets and fanfares.

Starting yesterday (16th Feb), Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) was released to MSDN & Technet Subscribers.  Release to Windows Update & the Download center will start on the 22nd Feb.

More Information on SP1 can be found at the following pages:

Information about Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and for Windows Server 2008 R2
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/976932

Windows 7 Service Pack1
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff817622(WS.10).aspx

Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff817647(WS.10).aspx

Documentation Download for SP1 (Included Hotfixes, Deployment Guide, Hotfixes)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=61924cea-83fe-46e9-96d8-027ae59ddc11&displaylang=en

Service Manager 2010 Roadmap - SP1 & R2

Microsoft released some more details on whats to come for Service Manager on their engineering blog:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager/archive/2010/11/16/service-manager-roadmap-update-what-s-coming.aspx
SP1 is, as expected, a collection of bug fixes and some additional languages.

R2 however is bringing:

• Release Management
• Service Request Fulfillment & Service Catalog
• Virtual Machine Manager Integration
• Reporting Analytics

And Improvements on existing features such as;

• Better incident SLA Support
• More customisable portal
• Parallel execution of activities
• Subscription infrastructure improvements
• Email lifecycle support

And much more....

Server 2008 R2 Print Services Management Pack - Workaround

I've been complaining for ages about Microsoft's lack of support for Print Services on Server 2008 R2 via their SCOM print management pack.

Finally I'd had enough of it and made some time to sit down with Rob to take a look.

The end result is that Rob has produced a simple management pack that runs a discovery with the correct WMI query to look for 'Print and Document Services' rather than 'Print Services' and populate the group used by the Microsoft MP so that the rest of the Microsoft MP will discover the printers on the R2 server and collect the performance data.

You can find the MP at the bottom of Robs blog post.

http://msopsmgr.blogspot.com/2010/10/workaround-management-pack-for.html

*Disclaimer*
This is NOT a supported method; this pack has been created as a personal temporary fix so use at your own discretion.
Use at 'your own risk' and AS-IS with no warranties. As always use a test environment.