Microsoft in the News
Every time you want to undertake a project that involves many people, multiple skill sets, a variety of inputs, and the inevitable time and money constraints, you likely want to start by calling on a Project Manager. But just because you can come up with a plan, that doesn’t mean it is best practices. That is why, when I was blogging about data science, I talked about the Team Data Science Process (TDSP). Having a best practices road map can be helpful beyond measure.
Microsoft has many tools that can be used in an infinite amount of combinations and permutations. They also have an enormous amount of experience using those tools in large projects. They have put that experience to work by creating the TDSP. Another area where they are bringing all those tools and experience together to create a cohesive plan is with Microsoft’s CityNext solutions.
It has been forecast that 70% of the human population will live in an urban area within the next thirty years. This rapid growth of cities will bring many challenges that can only be identified and met through the application of multiple disciplines. Sounds very similar to a TDSP situation that calls for some determination as to best practices, and a roadmap that will help those tasked with solving the problems.
CityNext provides solution scenarios to address issues faced by cities. These solutions cover topics like:
- Digitizing government processes,
- Public safety and justice,
- Health and social services,
- Education, and
- Sustainability
A white paper on CityNext can be found here: https://www.citynextdigitaltransformation.com/assets/downloads/city-next/FY17_MSFT_CityNext_Core_Whitepaper.pdf
Removing a Container Service
This week I wanted to try out a new product from a vendor. I thought I may use it for a demo so wanted to be able to run it on my laptop. You never know when you go to do a demo and cannot access Azure, so I try to always put my demos on my laptop as a backup; just in case….
The product required me to remove all previous versions of windows containers on my machine. The vendor recommended I use this posh command.
Remove-WindowsFeature Containers
I was fairly sure I did not have any but wanted to check to make sure.
I opened an elevated PowerShell prompt and used the Deployment Image Servicing and Management command line tool
Dism /online /get-featureinfo /featurename:Containers
Note that my Container service is disabled, but it still exists. I need to remove it, so it can be reinstalled. There is a difference between removed and disabled. I felt much more comfortable knowing the feature was disabled and therefore had no issue with removing it.
I tried the recommended command from the vendor:
Remove-WindowsFeature Containers
When I received this error:
You need to download and install ‘Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 10’. The download link is https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/download/details.aspx?id=45520
https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/download/details.aspx?id=45520
I downloaded it and ran it. It seemed odd from the start as I did not expect it to come in as a Windows update. I double checked the download and then ran it.
After the Yes, I got a screen that made me less nervous about the update, at least it was what I was expecting for a tool.
Trying then again to remove the container, I ran into the next error.
Unfortunately, I had to get to this screen to realize that the command the vendor recommended did not actually work on a Window 10 machine but only on server. Once I realized that it was easy to find the correct command and get my disabled container removed.
dism /online /Disable-Feature /FeatureName:Containers
