The Windows Optimized Desktop offers client computing choices to enhance user productivity while meeting specific business and IT needs. Built on the Windows 7 Enterprise operating system, managed by Microsoft System Center, and secured by Microsoft Forefront Endpoint Protection, the Windows Optimized Desktop includes virtualization technologies with integrated management across physical and virtual machines (VMs), including virtual desktop infrastructures. Add Microsoft Office 2010, Windows Internet Explorer 9, and the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) to enable a workforce that is more productive, manageable, and secure.
This section focuses on specific technologies in the Windows Optimized Desktop that can help IT embrace consumerization on rich devices running Windows 7. These technologies can address challenges such as managing applications and user data, safeguarding data, defending the network, and protecting intellectual property in consumerization scenarios.
Application Management
In consumerization scenarios, application management is about provisioning applications and controlling which applications users can run on their computers. System Center Configuration Manager 2007 and Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) are key deployment technologies. Additionally, AppLocker is a Windows 7 Enterprise feature that you can use to control access to applications.
Configuration Manager provides a rich set of tools and resources that you can use to manage the complex task of creating, modifying, and distributing application packages to computers in your enterprise. Deploying applications by using an existing Configuration Manager infrastructure is remarkably straightforward.
Administrator Workflows for Software Distribution on TechNet describes this process in detail:
- Create a software distribution package containing the application installation files.
- Create a program to include in the package. Among other options, the program defines the command necessary to install the application package.
- Distribute the package to distribution points.
- Advertise the package to computers in your organization.
Organizations using System Center Essentials can also use it to distribute applications. For more information about Essentials, see
System Center Essentials. Technical guidance for deploying applications is available in the
System Center Essentials 2010 Operations Guide.
To control access to physical or virtual applications, Windows 7 Enterprise offers AppLocker. AppLocker is a new feature that replaces the Software Restriction Policies feature in earlier Windows versions. It adds capabilities that reduce administrative overhead and help you control users’ access to program files, scripts, and Windows Installer files. By using AppLocker to control access to physical applications, you can prevent unlicensed, malicious, and unauthorized applications from running.
To use AppLocker, you create a Group Policy Object (GPO) and then define AppLocker rules inside it. Within a rule, you can allow or deny access to a program file, script, or Windows Installer file for a specific user or group. You identify the file based on file attributes—including the publisher, product name, file name, and file version—from the digital signature. For example, you can create rules based on product-name and file-version attributes that persist through updates, or you can create rules that target a specific version of a file. In addition to allowing or denying access to a file, you can define exceptions. For example, you can create a rule that allows all programs which ship as part of Windows 7 to run except for the Registry Editor (regedit.exe).
AppLocker is surprisingly easy to configure and deploy. It provides wizards that make defining rules for program files, scripts, and Windows Installer files straightforward. However, because AppLocker prevents users from opening or running files that are not defined explicitly in a rule, you should plan your AppLocker deployment after examining an inventory of applications used in your environment. More information about AppLocker is available in
AppLocker on TechNet.
User State Virtualization
A specific challenge to embracing consumerization is people working on more than one computer. This scenario can be painful for both end users and IT pros. Users’ files and settings do not follow them when they roam from computer to computer. If a user creates a document on his or her work computer, for example, that document isn’t immediately available when he or she logs on to a slate or through a VM accessed by a non-Windows PC. For IT, decentralized storage of files and settings leads to even more challenges. Files are difficult to back up. They’re difficult to secure. And because they’re scattered across many PCs, availability of important files is difficult to manage.
User state virtualization addresses these challenges. It centralizes storage of users’ files and settings to make backing up and securing them easier. Managing the availability of important files is possible. Also, user-state virtualization enables users’ files and settings to follow them from PC to PC and even to VMs. In Windows 7, three technologies support user state virtualization:
- Roaming user profiles give you the ability to store user profiles (i.e., files stored in C:\Users\Username, including the registry hive file) in a network share. Windows 7 synchronizes the local and remote user profiles when users log on to and off of the computer. For more information, see What's New in Folder Redirection and User Profiles.
- Folder Redirection redirects folders such as Documents, Pictures, and Videos from a user profile to a network share. Redirecting folders reduces the size of roaming user profiles and can improve logon and logoff performance. You configure Folder Redirection by using Group Policy. The important distinction between roaming user profiles and Folder Redirection is that you use roaming user profiles primarily for settings and Folder Redirection for documents. For more information, see What's New in Folder Redirection and User Profiles.
- Offline Files, a feature enabled by default in Windows 7, provide the ability to work with redirected folders and other shared network content when disconnected from the network by caching copies locally. Offline Files synchronizes changes the next time a connection is available. For more information, see What's New in Offline Files.
Local Data Security
BitLocker Drive Encryption is an integral security feature in Windows 7 Enterprise that helps protect data stored on fixed drives and the operating system drive. BitLocker helps protect against offline attacks, which are attacks made by disabling or circumventing the installed operating system or by physically removing the hard drive to attack the data separately. BitLocker helps ensure that users can read the data on the drive and write data to the drive only when they have either the required password, smart card credentials, or are using the data drive on a BitLocker-protected computer that has the proper keys.
BitLocker protection on operating system drives supports two-factor authentication by using a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) along with a personal identification number (PIN) or startup key as well as single-factor authentication by storing a key on a USB flash drive or just using the TPM. Using BitLocker with a TPM provides enhanced data protection and helps assure early boot component integrity. This option requires that the computer have a compatible TPM microchip and BIOS:
- A compatible TPM is defined as a version 1.2 TPM.
- A compatible BIOS must support the TPM and the Static Root of Trust Measurement as defined by the Trusted Computing Group. For more information about TPM specifications, visit the TPM Specifications section of theTrusted Computing Group Web site.
The TPM interacts with BitLocker operating system drive protection to help provide protection at system startup. This is not visible to the user, and the user logon experience is unchanged. However, if the startup information has changed, BitLocker will enter recovery mode, and the user will need a recovery password or recovery key to regain access to the data.
The
BitLocker Drive Encryption Deployment Guide for Windows 7 provides detailed guidance for deploying BitLocker. Additionally, numerous Group Policy settings are available for managing BitLocker. You can learn about these in the
BitLocker Group Policy Reference. You can provision BitLocker during deployment by using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010 or Configuration Manager. For more information, see the MDT 2010 documentation.
Windows 7 Home Premium and Windows 7 Professional do not include BitLocker. If you allow employees to use devices that are running these operating systems, you can use the Encrypting File System (EFS) to help protect corporate data on these computers. However, EFS does not provide full-volume encryption, as BitLocker does. Instead, users choose the folders and files they want to encrypt. For more information about EFS in Windows 7, see
The Encrypting File System.
Note: Users who are running Windows 7 Home Premium or Windows 7 Professional can use Windows Anytime Upgrade to upgrade to Windows 7 Ultimate for a charge. Doing so would provide BitLocker. For more information about Windows Anytime Upgrade, see Windows Anytime Upgrade.
Removable Storage
In Windows 7 Enterprise, BitLocker To Go extends BitLocker to portable drives, such as USB flash drives. Users can encrypt portable drives by using a password or smart card. Authorized users can view the information on any PC that runs Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows XP by using the
BitLocker To Go Reader. Also, by using Group Policy, you can require data protection for writing to any removable storage device but can enable unprotected storage devices to be used in read-only mode.
The
BitLocker Drive Encryption Deployment Guide for Windows 7 provides detailed guidance for using BitLocker To Go. Additionally, numerous Group Policy settings are available for managing BitLocker To Go, which the
BitLocker Group Policy Reference describes.
Backups
The Windows 7 Backup and Restore feature creates safety copies of users’ most important personal files. They can let Windows choose what to back up or pick individual folders, libraries, and drives to back up—on whatever schedule works best for them. Windows supports backing up to another drive or a DVD. Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, and Windows 7 Enterprise also support backing up files to a network location.
Whereas Windows 7 provides a built-in backup feature that users can use on their own devices, System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) 2010 enables an organization to create a two-tiered backup solution that combines the convenience and reliability of disk for short-term backup—where most recovery requests are concentrated—with the security of tape or other removable medium for long-term archiving. This two-tiered system helps to alleviate the problems associated with tape backup solutions while still allowing for the maintenance of long-term off-site archives.
Important to consumerization scenarios, DPM 2010 adds support for protecting client computers, such as laptop computers and slates, which are not always connected to the network. Additionally, users can recover their own data without waiting for the backup administrator. You can learn more about DPM 2010 at
System Center Data Protection Manager 2010.
Network Access
Forefront Unified Access Gateway (UAG) provides remote client endpoints with access to corporate applications, networks, and internal resources via a Web site. Client endpoints include not only computers running Windows but also other non-Windows devices. It supports the following scenarios:
- Forefront UAG as a publishing server. You can configure Forefront UAG to publish corporate applications and resources, and enable remote users to access those applications in a controlled manner from a diverse range of endpoints and locations.
- Forefront UAG as a DirectAccess server. You can configure Forefront UAG as a DirectAccess server, extending the benefits of DirectAccess across your infrastructure to enhance scalability and simplify deployment and ongoing management. Forefront UAG DirectAccess provides a seamless connection experience to your internal network for users who have Internet access. Requests for internal resources are securely directed to the internal network without requiring a VPN connection.
- Single and multiple server deployment. You can configure a single server as a publishing server and as a Forefront UAG DirectAccess server, or deploy an array of multiple servers for scalability and high availability.
Network Security
Network Access Protection (NAP) includes client and server components that allow you to create and enforce health requirement policies that define the required software and system configurations for computers that connect to your network. NAP enforces health requirements by inspecting and assessing the health of client computers, limiting network access when client computers are noncompliant, and remediating noncompliant client computers for unlimited network access. NAP enforces health requirements on client computers that are attempting to connect to a network. NAP can also provide ongoing health compliance enforcement while a compliant client computer is connected to a network.
NAP enforcement occurs at the moment client computers attempt to access the network through network access servers, such as a virtual private network (VPN) server running Routing and Remote Access (RRAS), or when clients attempt to communicate with other network resources. The way in which NAP is enforced depends on the enforcement method you choose. NAP enforces health requirements for the following:
- Internet Protocol security (IPsec)-protected communications
- Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.1X-authenticated connections
- VPN connections
- Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) configuration
- Terminal Services Gateway (TS Gateway) connections
The
Network Access Protection Design Guide can help you design a NAP deployment. The
Network Access Protection Deployment Guide provides detailed technical guidance for the above scenarios.
In Configuration Manager, NAP lets you include software updates in your system health requirements. Configuration Manager NAP policies define which software updates to include, and a Configuration Manager System Health Validator point passes the client's compliant or non-compliant health state to the Network Policy Server (NPS). The NPS then determines whether the client has full or restricted network access, and whether non-compliant clients will be brought into compliance through remediation. For more information about NAP in Configuration Manager, see
Network Access Protection in Configuration Manager.
Information Protection
In addition to securing local data and network access, protecting access to business information—such as intellectual property—is an important consideration if you're embracing consumerization. Two technologies are available for protecting this information:
- Rights Management Services. By using Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS) and the AD RMS client, you can augment your organization's security strategy by protecting information through persistent usage policies, which remain with the information, no matter where it is moved. You can use AD RMS to help prevent sensitive information—such as financial reports, product specifications, customer data, and confidential e-mail messages—from intentionally or accidentally getting into the wrong hands. Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2010 are examples of applications that integrate with AD RMS. You can learn more about AD RMS at Active Directory Rights Management Services.
- File Classification Infrastructure. To reduce the cost and risk associated with this type of data management, the File Classification Infrastructure in Windows Server 2008 R2 offers a platform that allows you to classify files and apply policies based on that classification. The storage layout is unaffected by data-management requirements, and you can adapt more easily to a changing business and regulatory environment. Files can be classified in a variety of ways. Additionally, you can specify file-management policies, based on a file’s classification, and automatically apply corporate requirements for managing data, based on business value. You can easily modify the policies and use tools that support classification to manage their files. For example, you can automatically manage the rights to files that contain the word confidential. To learn more about the File Classification Infrastructure, see Working with File Classification.
