For those of us in IT who lean more to the security side of things, Microsoft announced a new tool to help out within our virtual environments. The Microsoft Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool allows IT professionals to update offline virtual machines in an efficient manner without exposing them to certain security risks. Being able to store virtual machines offline in the Microsoft System Center Virtual Mac For those of us in IT who lean more to the security side of things, Microsoft announced a new tool to help out within our virtual environments. The Microsoft Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool allows IT professionals to update offline virtual machines in an efficient manner without exposing them to certain security risks.Being able to store virtual machines offline in the Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager Library is a huge convenience. Unfortunately, while stored in an offline manner, these virtual machines aren’t being patched and updated. This translates into a security hole when these virtual machines are taken out of dry dock and launched into the live environment. Doing so could introduce any number of vulnerabilities into an organization’s IT infrastructure.The new tool provides a way to keep these offline virtual machines up-to-date. How? It combines the Windows Workflow programming model with the Windows PowerShell interface to bring groups of virtual machines online just long enough for them to receive updates from either System Center Configuration Manager 2007 or Windows Server Update Services. As soon as the virtual machines are up-to-date, the tool returns them to the offline state in the Virtual Machine Manager library. This Solution Accelerator includes the following components: Executive Overview. Available online only on Microsoft Technet. Summary for business and technical managers that briefly explains how this Solution Accelerator can fit into an organization’s IT infrastructure management strategy. OfflineVMServicing_x64 and OfflineVMServicing_x86. Setup files for the tool, for 64 bit and 32 bit versions of Windows Server 2003. OfflineVirtualMachineServicingToolGettingStartedGuide. Getting Started Guide, in docx and doc formats. Provides information about how the tool works, explains prerequisites for the tool, and describes how to install and configure the tool. Offline_VM_Servicing_Tool_Release_Notes.rtf. Notes provide information about this release, describe known issues in the tool, and include feedback instructions. Offline_Virtual_Machine_Servicing_Tool_Help. Help file for the tool. Provides instructions for using the tool.Click here if you would like to download the tool or get more information. Software Development