Category: Updates

Unable To Delete Logical Switch From SCVMM 2012 R2

This post is about a situation where I was not able to remove a logical switch from System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 R2 (with Update Rollup 1). This scenario might affect other versions. And the fix might not work for everyone.

I was removing a bunch of logical network stuff from VMM, just mucking around with different types of builds to find one that suited my needs in the lab. I came to delete the virtual switch (logical switch) from Fabric in the SCVMM console but it failed to go. The reason given was that there was a remaining dependency. I checked the dependencies but none were listed.

Very strange!

I tried everything I could think of. Then I gave my MVP friend Damian Flynn a shout to see if he’d seen it. He had (if Damian hasn’t seen it, then it doesn’t exist in VMM), but wasn’t able to remember exactly what the fix was. I suspected I’d be using PowerShell. Damian confirmed it. So we went “wandering” in SCVMM. I found a remaining VM Network. There is no inter-dependency with it and the logical switch, but I decided to delete it. And it wouldn’t delete because a physical computer network adapter was depending on it.

That was strange – I had no hosts or physical computer hardware profiles left ,,, apparently. Time for PowerShell. Finding the verb-noun combination was easy. Damian filled in the –all for me. The following cmdlet corrected me.

Get-SCPhysicalComputerNetworkAdapterProfile -all

Interesting.

I tried but it failed.

Get-SCPhysicalComputerNetworkAdapterProfile -all |Remove-SCPhysicalComputerNetworkAdapterProfile

Apparently a virtual network adapter depended on these physical NICs. Ah… now I knew what was wrong. More on that later.

The next cmdlet confirmed my theory:

Get-SCVirtualNetworkAdapter –all

I removed that virtual network adapter with:

Get-SCVirtualNetworkAdapter -all | Remove-SCVirtualNetworkAdapter

Now I was able to run the following:

Get-SCPhysicalComputerNetworkAdapterProfile -all |Remove-SCPhysicalComputerNetworkAdapterProfile

Then I was able to remove both the virtual network and the logical switch.

So what happened? My previously deleted physical computer hardware profile featured two physical NICs (with CDN defined – don’t know if that’s important for this situation). Those two NICs were teamed using a logical switch and uplink port profile, and a virtual management adapter was connected to the logical switch. That’s what my queries revealed: a virtual network adapter (the virtual management NIC) and physical network adapters. Both the VM Network and the logical switch were dependent on these resources.

It appears that the process to delete the physical computer hardware profile left behind the physical NICs and the virtual management adapter, and the GUI didn’t have a way to present those stragglers.

Thanks to Damian for his help … it proved to be a fine opportunity to run through my design with him. Doing Hyper-V networking via SCVMM is quite different to the much more flexible native WS2012 R2 PowerShell option.

KB2734608: Enable WSUS 3.0 SP2 To Support Windows Server 2012 And Windows 8

Microsoft has released an update for WSUS 3.0 SP2 that enables Windows Server Update Services to provide updates for Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8.  It is available as an x86 and x64 download.

According to the Microsoft SUS blog, this update will fix:

This update lets servers that are running Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) 3.0 SP2 provide updates to computers that are running Windows 8 or Windows Server 2012.

This update fixes the following issues:

  • Installation of update 2720211 may fail if Service Pack 2 was previously uninstalled and then reinstalled.
  • After you install update 2720221, health monitoring may fail if the WSUS server is configured to use SSL.

Additionally, this update includes the following fixes:

  • 2530678 System Center Update Publisher does not publish customized updates to a computer if WSUS 3.0 SP2 and the .NET Framework 4 are installed
  • 2530709 "Metadata only" updates cannot be expired or revised in WSUS 3.0 SP2
  • 2720211 An update for Windows Server Update Services 3.0 Service Pack 2 is available

SP1 is Available Now

Service Pack 1 for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 is available to volume license customers and MSDN/TechNet subscribers.  There’s not much more to say at the moment.  I’ve blogged it all before.

I’ll be coming back to Dynamic Memory when I get a chance.  I’m pretty tired right now after a day of assembling servers, and I’ve got 2 presentations to prepare for next week – a side benefit of that will be a lab where I can grab screenshots for a nice long blog post.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 Coming to an Automatic Update Near You

Windows XP SP3 will be released via Automatic Updates pretty soon.  This means that unless you take certain steps, you can expect SP3 to install onto all XP PC’s that have AU enabled.  I’m extra careful with service packs because they can affect business application support.  So a complete automatic deployment without manual testing or control is not probably ideal.

There’s a few things you can do:

  • Allow this to happen: That’s OK is a smaller company where you’re happy with it already.  Maybe you already trust the installer on your hardware platforms and with your software.  Beware anyone who has a HP machine with and AMD processor and OEM installed XP Media Edition.  There’s some gotchas there you’ll want to Google.
  • Block the install using the Vista SP1 and XP SP3 blocker tool:  This works for 12 months from the release of the service pack.
  • Control you updates: Use something like WSUS or System Center Configuration Manager to control what updates are approved and deployed on your network from a central console and use a test lab to evaluate and test.