Updated the workflow activity library

I'm pleased to announce that I've just updated the FIM 2010 Granfeldt Workflow Activity Library on CodePlex.

Besides the Lookup Value activity and the awesome Code Run / C# activity (that really could replace the Function Evaluator), this release contains three new workflows -

1. Create Object
2. Delete Object
3. Copy Values

These are three simple but effective workflows that are useful for any FIM 2010 installation. The documentation has completed and you can find more information on the activities here.

I have a few more ideas for some generic workflows and will try to find time to add these to the collection within the nearest future. Also, for this release I really need to thank Kristian Thim who chipped in with a few lines of clever code and juggled my mind to think a little different for some of the activities.

Anyway, you can get to the CodePlex project here.

So download the latest release and let me know if you like it and find it useful?

Handing over the check

This Saturday I brought my family to the H. C. Andersens Childrens hospital to hand over the check of $2.000 USD. The amount was all collected from donations made through my blog in the fall of 2012.

H. C. Andersens Childrens hospital here in my hometown, Odense, is named after the famous danish poet/author Hans Christian Andersen. It is the only real 'hospital' for children here in Denmark as other hospitals only have childrens wards. And children come to this hospital from all parts of Denmark for treatment.



My daugther and I outside the childrens hospital

Handing over the check was at the sculpture called "Magic Mountain' / Tryllebjerget (in Danish)

Meeting with the staff at this hospital was a very nice experience and it really confirmed me in my choice of beneficiary. The staff is very dedicated and they are really doing a fantastic job providing an environment that help the kids feel as if they are not in a typical hospital.

They were very happy to receive the check for $2.000 (DKK 11.380,-) and I'm confident that they will put the money to good use.

Again, I would very much like to thank everyone that made a donation when downloading either MARunScheduler or the very popular PowerShell Management Agent. Thank you very much, you really helped make a difference for a lot of children.

First beta release of FIM 2010 workflow library is out

My latest CodePlex project has its first beta release with two FIM 2010 R2 custom workflows, namely the Code Run activity and the Lookup Value activity. I plan to add more of these generic workflows to the project when time allows it.

The last custom workflow, you'll ever need?
Do yourself a favor and have a look at the Code Run activity that is in there, That activity is one that I'm particularly proud of. It allows you to write almost any C# code directly in the workflow and based on parameters passed, your code can run and calculate a return value of any type. The activty can also update a target object with the returned value from the code.

I think this activity is extremely powerful if you put your creativity to work - and I bet that you're going to use the built-in Function Evaluator a lot less when you get your head around this Code Run activity. And it may even replace a lot of the other custom workflows that you have or need. But don't take my word for it - give it a go...

As always, I'm very eager to learn whether you find these workflows valuable and if you have any ideas for improvements or features - so please do let me know.

You can download a version at http://fimactivitylibrary.codeplex.com/

Enjoy.

What's new in FIM 2010 R2 Service Pack 1?

Last week, Service Pack 1 for FIM 2010 R2 was released somewhat silently. Everyone was looking for "What's new, then?".

Well, the cat is out of the bag. You can have a look here to see what's new in Service Pack 1 for Forefront Identity Manager 2010 R2.

Besides the interesting new feature of 'Deferred Evaluation of Criteria-based Groups', this does look like mainly a version support/performance upgrade. However, I, for one, is happy to see the new features of the ECMA2 framework and I'll have to look into including some of the new features in a new version of my popular PowerShell Management Agent

Also, here is a list with a few links to official announcements regarding Service Pack 1 for FIM 2010 R2 -

• Product page: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/forefront/identity-manager.aspx
• Eval center page: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/evalcenter/cc872861.aspx
• Server-Cloud blog post: http://blogs.technet.com/b/server-cloud/archive/2013/01/31/announcing-forefront-identity-manager-2010-r2-service-pack-1.aspx
• Newsbytes blog post: http://blogs.technet.com/b/stbnewsbytes/archive/2013/01/31/january-31-2013-news-thursday-windows-server-2012-economic-impact-and-more-server-and-tools-news.aspx
• Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=150187335139080&id=178466795543257
• Tweet: https://twitter.com/MS_Forefront/status/297028426739617792

 

Enjoy your reading...

FIM 2010 Granfeldt Workflow Activity Library

UPDATE: The Lookup Value is now part of the project

I'm very pleased to announce that I've released the first version of my ongoing FIM 2010 Workflow Activity Library on CodePlex.

For now, the solution only contains one workflow - a Code Activity workflow that allows you to write C# code that is executed when the workflow is instantiated (for more information, see documentation on CodePlex).

Within the next few months, plans are to add my other generic workflows to this solution, namely Lookup Value and Propercasing and a few other hidden 'gems'

You can find the initial version here (https://fimactivitylibrary.codeplex.com/) and please help me extend the documentation - and be sure to let me know of any bugs.

Deprecated features and planning for the future

The good FIM guys in Seattle just released a very much needed list of deprecated features for the FIM 2010 Synchronization Service.

This is a MUST read/study list. All deprecated features of the FIM Synchronization Service that are still available in FIM 2010 R2 are discussed and make no mistake - these features are scheduled to be removed in a future release of FIM. You should not use deprecated features in new applications.

So no doubt, there are definitely some actions for you too take on your current FIM 2010 installation or if you're planning to deploy newer versions of FIM in the near future. Make sure that your roadmap for your installation aligns with the facts in this document from Microsoft.

I'll keep a close watch on this list and I really hope that Microsoft keeps it in a current state moving forward as these decisions affects a lot of installations around the world.

Oh, and you can find the list here.

FIM 2010 R2 Service Pack 1 / BHOLD released

The news is already out there, but I thought I'd just write a quick note on it as well.

On MSDN, you can download Service Pack 1 for FIM 2010 R2 and BHOLD. Note that there are two versions available - one for new installs and one for upgrades to existing installations.

I've yet to play around with this new Service Pack - and with support for newer versions of Windows Server 2012 and SQL Server 2012, it looks as if I've got my work cut out testing and I also need to upgrade my PowerShell kit for that automates FIM2010 R2 / SharePoint 2010 installation scripts to support the new version.

As far as I know there is no official KB article or document telling us exactly what the news in this release is. So I guess everyone is looking for to that and I will definitely want to read that before I upgrade any production environments.

As I dive into this new service pack, I'll be sure to share my findings - so stay tuned.

UPDATE. Jorge has a little more information to share on this here (http://jorgequestforknowledge.wordpress.com/category/forefront-identity-manager-fim-sync/)

$2.000 donation to childrens hospital

In the autumn of 2012, I decided that all donations made to my FIM projects - the PowerShell MA, MARunScheduler and FIM MRE should go to charity. There hasn't been very many donations, but fortunately there has been some very generous donations, resulting in a total of $1.786,00 in donations.

I've decided to round up to amount to $2.000 to be able to give a nice round amount of money to H. C. Andersens Childrens Hospital here in my hometown of Odense, Denmark. In the near future, I'll make an appointment with the hospital to present them with the check.

Thank you once again to those that have supported my cause. Thank you - and happy New Year.