Russ Slaten posted an interesting entry on the System Center blog on how to monitor the Operations Manager Root Management Server (RMS) using an agent. It’s a good read.
Month: February 2009
Dell Deployment Pack for ConfigMgr 2007 SP1
Dell takes integration with Microsoft System Center very seriously. Proof of that is their MVP’s on staff. They’ve released the Dell Deployment Pack to assist with deploying your Dell systems with Configuration Manager 2007 SP1. It’s a GUI tool so less confusing command line magic is required. According to the site:
“Overview of Dell Deployment Pack Features
Using the ConfigMgr Task Sequence Editor, you can do the following with the Dell Deployment Pack:
- Configure your system’s Baseboard Management Controller (BMC), Dell Remote Access Controller (DRAC), Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID), and BIOS. You can configure BIOS and RAID using .ini files. You can configure your system settings using the GUI or command-line interface (CLI) options. You can also configure RAID using the Array Builder wizard.
- Create a Dell-specific boot image that will be used in the OS deployment.
- Create and apply driver installation packages for specific Dell systems.
System Requirements
- Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager with Service Pack 1 or newer
- At least 1 GB of free disk space on the same drive that contains the ConfigMgr installation files
- A configured Network Access Account for ConfigMgr site(s).
Supported Hardware Systems
The Dell Deployment Pack 1.0 supports the following Dell PowerEdge™ systems:
PowerEdge 800, 830, 840, 850, 860, 1850, 1855, 2800, 2850, 6800, 6850, 1900, 1950, 1955, 2900, 2970, 6950, SC1435, 2950, T105, R200, R900, R805, M600, M605, T605, R300, T300, R805, PV0100, PV0500, PV0600, NX1950, M805, M905, and R905.
Supported Operating Systems
- Microsoft Windows Server® 2003, Small Business Server (SP2, R2)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003 x86, x86_64 Edition SP2 and SP2 R2
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Standard and Enterprise Editions (x86) and (x86_64)
- Microsoft Windows® Small Business Server 2008 x64 (64 bit Edition)
- Microsoft Windows Essential Business Server 2008 x64 (64 bit Edition)”
Some VMM Webcasts
I spend a lot of time talking to customers about complex IT infrastructure. They’re usually developers so I’m talking black magic to them, just like .NET is to me. So we’ve found the best way to explain something is to show it.
VMM 2008 is one of those things. So the good folks at MS have done a few webcasts to show it in action:
- Introduction to System Center Virtual Machine Manager: Edwin Yuen (VMM bigwig) using VMM to manage Hyper-V, Virtual Server and ESX.
- Building on Your Existing Virtual Environment (Level 300): How to manage Hyper-V using VMM.
- Consolidation and Rapid Provisioning (Level 300): Using self-service and doing a P2V conversion.
OpsMgr 2007 Server Network Load Balancing MP
Microsoft has updated the existing Operations Manager 2007 management pack for Windows 2000/2003 Network Load Balancing.
MS Infrastructure Planning and Design
The Microsoft IPD documents, which are available to download now, aim to complement existing product documentation by presenting the deployment design options of a wide variety of MS infrastructure products and the implications of each decision. They are the next version of the Windows Server System Reference Architecture.
- New! Microsoft SQL Server 2008
- New! Windows Optimized Desktop Scenarios
- Exchange Online—Evaluating Software-plus-Services
- Infrastructure Planning and Design Series Introduction
- Internet Information Services 7.0
- Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5
- Selecting the Right NAP Architecture
- Selecting the Right Virtualization Technology
- System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 with R2
- System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 with SP1
- System Center Operations Manager 2007
- System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008
- Windows Deployment Services
- Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Domain Services
- Windows Server 2008 File Services
- Windows Server 2008 Print Services
- Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services
- Windows Server Virtualization (for Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1)
Oh boy, that’s a lot of reading to do!
Windows Server 2008 R2 Foundation Edition
It’s officially been confirmed by the Windows Server team that a new edition will join the Windows Server family in the R2 release. It will be referred to as “Foundation” and is described as an “entry-level server”. Paul Thurrot reported on it a while ago. The name does indeed imply that it will be targeted at emerging markets as is the plan for Windows 7.
Internet Explorer 8 RTM
NeoWin is reporting that IE8 has been RTM within Microsoft. It’ll allegedly be released to the public on Feb on the web after a TechNet/MSDN release. No signs of any dates being mentioned yet. I suspect there’ll be a major ramp up to prepare for the bandwidth hit. I also suspect there will be automatic installation blockers released for those who want to prevent IE8 from being downloaded by automatic updates. This has been done in the past.
I’ve been using IE8 RC1 on Vista SP1 and on Windows 7 Beta 1. I like that each tab is now a separate executable. If a tab crashes then it automatically restarts. It’s noticeable that a lot of sites aren’t IE compatible and you have to enable the “compatibility view” to make them render properly, e.g. GMail.
PLEASE Read The OpsMgr Management Pack Documentation
If you are downloading and running these Operations Manager 2007 management packs then it’s critical that you read the included documentation. There’s not as much tweaking as in the MOM 2005 days. But if you run Windows Server 2008 agents then you will have some patching to do, either before you deploy the agent or after you deploy it. Some of these updates prevent memory leaks. Some of them prevent false alerts.
If you have ConfigMgr then you can do this automatically. Create collections that target the criteria, e.g. “All Windows Server 2008 servers with IIS7 and the OpsMgr Health Service” and target that collection with a package(s) containing the appropriate update.
I’ve read through the documentation for the clustering and IIS7 management packs that include W2008 support. There’s a number of updates that I’ve had to download and will need to be deployed before/after agent installation.
Lots of VMware Announcements
There’s lots of announcements from VMware in the IT press. Things like partnerships with Intel, etc. I have a hard time thinking that VMware weren’t already working tightly with Intel for the last decade.
There’s been rumours of turmoil at the executive level for a while now. I’ve no idea if that is true or not. But there certainly are lots of announcement at the same time there’s lots of hype about Citrix and Microsoft’s next offerings.
What I do know is there is a lot of excitement in the VMware consumer base about where VMware is going next with HA and storage VMotion. It looks very interesting and I’ll have to get to some demo at some point.
At A BizSpark Business Start-Up Conference
I’m at a MS BizSpark sponsored event on starting and growing a start-up business on behalf of work to mingle. There’s a great attendance here, much better than any of the other BizSpark events I’ve been to. The developer platform folks at MS Ireland who worked on it deserve a lot of credit.
There’s a huge buzz in the rooms between the sessions. There’s a great belief that small Irish businesses will be what provide the spark for our ailing economy. MS, to their credit, are doing a lot to help the tech dependant start-ups:
- Free MSDN
- Free PSS support
- Free production licenses
- Access to BizSpark hosting partners
- Networking events to meet other businesses and organisations/investors who can help
I’ll be here all day and am staying for the networking event in the evening. I’m the short fat bald guy with black pants and blue shirt so come say hello if you are here.