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2012 r2 series: three scenarios of pcit

 

pcit. there’s that term again. it doesn’t mean personal computer though. it actually means people-centric IT. as more and more devices are born to consume cloud-based services, it makes sense for management of such devices to be cloud-based as well. part 3 – people-centric IT in action – end-to-end scenarios across products – (coincidentally) looks at three scenarios of pcit.

 

scenario 1: company access, personal device.

company access already exists today through technology such as vpn. this is really more about giving users the ability to get to their work files on a personal device. it address some of the risks around compliance by utilizing authentication (ad fs) and encryption (work folders).1 of course, remote wipe is a part of the scenario.

the core component to scenario 1 is work folders. think of work folders as a skydrive pro for file servers. (skydrive pro is for sharepoint, in case you were curious.) work folders requires both a server2 and a client. windows 8.1 will be the first to get it with windows 7 and ios following shortly thereafter. work folders runs over https so if you are so inclined, you can publish it via the web application proxy – which integrates with ad fs.

for those IT admins that yearn for more control in their life, configmgr + intune delivers the ability to provision devices with work folders settings. group policies can be used for those pesky domain-joined machines. configmgr r2 has work folders support so you can use all of the familiar targeting capability to deliver policies.

1 optionally, use dynamic access control (dac) and rights management services (rms) can provide additional security/control. complexity is already super high, though.

2 basically, it’s a file server role in windows 2012 r2.

this statement will have you locked away in a cave by your executives for months:

Back to Hypothetical Joe: Suppose Joe buys a new Surface RT and wants to access files from work. He simply has to Workplace Join his device and enroll for management. As part of enrollment, his Work Folder configuration will be automatically provisioned and his files will start to sync to an encrypted folder. Joe now has all his work files available to him. As he makes changes to these files on his Surface RT, the changes synchronize to his desktop at work and vice-versa. As he creates sensitive documents, they are automatically classified and RMS protected.

Later, when Joe leaves the company, the IT team removes his devices from management and Joe’s Surface RT automatically wipes (rendered inaccessible) his Work Folders data while leaving all his personal data intact.

 

scenario 2: register to win!

unified device management (udm) requires azure AD, configmgr, and intune. once your environment is set up, the user will have to go to their respective “store” and download the company portal app. the cool thing is the device will show up in configmgr associated with the user.

granting access to company resources requires web application proxy and ad fs. unregistered devices will be denied access but will be provided links on how to get registered (to win!).

 

scenario 3: managing vpn

windows 8.1 has ms and third party vpn support built in, including new capabilities for profile management and on-demand vpn. let’s start with profile management:

  • configmgr + intune = provision vpn profiles and certs (intune for devices)
  • provision vpn profiles via powershell

automatic vpn (what i refer to as on-demand vpn) is managed by rules that are delivered to the device. when a user tries to connect to a company resource, vpn fires up. if any additional information is required, the user is prompted.

here’s a list of the powershell cmdlets from my 8.1 preview tablet:

Add-VpnConnection
Add-VpnConnectionRoute
Add-VpnConnectionTriggerApplication
Add-VpnConnectionTriggerDnsConfiguration
Add-VpnConnectionTriggerTrustedNetwork
Get-VpnConnection
Get-VpnConnectionTrigger
New-VpnServerAddress
Remove-VpnConnection
Remove-VpnConnectionRoute
Remove-VpnConnectionTriggerApplication
Remove-VpnConnectionTriggerDnsConfiguration
Remove-VpnConnectionTriggerTrustedNetwork
Set-VpnConnection
Set-VpnConnectionIPsecConfiguration
Set-VpnConnectionProxy
Set-VpnConnectionTriggerDnsConfiguration
Set-VpnConnectionTriggerTrustedNetwork

 

technologies involved with pcit architecture:

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