Tag: WDS

Microsoft News Summary – 17 September 2014

Microsoft’s patch woes continue. A September update for Lync was pulled this week. Please: do not approve updates immediately; wait 1 month and let some other mug find the bugs for Microsoft.

Azure

Networking

  • Announcing the Message Analyzer 1.1 Release: The completely indecipherable replacement for Network Monitor has just been upgraded to v1.1. I find this replacement for NetMon to be a complete mystery and the UI looks like something Symantec would come up with (random). It’s no wonder WireShark remains the #1 choice.
  • Introduction to Message Analyzer 1.1: A YouTube video to give you a high-level introduction to Message Analyzer 1.1. Includes a run-through of the UI and an overview of general features.

Deployment

Office 365

Miscellaneous

Microsoft News Summary – 22 August 2014

Here’s the latest news from the Microsoft wires. More new services have popped up on Azure, mostly for devs, but the SQL AlwaysOn template should be a massive time saver.

Hyper-V

Azure

Security

OS Deployment

Office 365

Microsoft News Summary–25th April 2014

Here’s the Microsoft news from over the last 24 hours.

BTW, there’s now some thought that a Microsoft Surface Mini tablet might appear soon. Amazon accidentally put up an item for a 3rd party tablet cover for such a tablet. TechEd or the week after in May would be good timing for such a release. At TechEd they could probably have 3 hour lines and sell 5000+ of them.

VMM 2012 System Requirements

The official TechNet content is a bit scattered about so I through I’d reorganise it and consolidate to make stuff easier to find.  The software requirements of Virtual Machine Manager (VMM/SCVMM) 2012 are easy:

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter with SP1
  • Windows Remote Management (WinRM) 2.0 – a part of W2008 R2
  • .NET 3.5 with SP1 (a feature in W2008 R2)
  • WAIK  for Windows 7

There’s a significant change for the database.  SQL Express is no longer supported.  You will need to migrate the VMM database to one of the supported versions/editions:

  • SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise/Standard x86/x64 (no news of support for the recent SP1 yet)
  • SQL Server 2008 Enterprise/Standard x86/x64 with Service Pack 2

Here’s the system requirements for VMM 2012:

Manage Up To 150 Hosts

Let’s be honest; how many of us really have anything close to 150 hosts to manage with VMM?  Hell; how many of us have 15 hosts to manage?  Anyway, here’s the system requirements and basic architecture for this scale of deployment.

image

You can run all of the VMM roles on a single server with the following hardware configuration:

Component Minimum Recommended
CPU Pentium 4, 2 GHz (x64)

Dual-Processor, Dual-Core, 2.8 GHz (x64) or greater
Memory

2 GB

 4 GB
Disk space (no local DB)

2 GB

 40 GB
Disk Space (local DB) 80 GB 150 GB

Although you can run all the components on a single server, you may want to split them out onto different servers if you need VMM role fault tolerance.  You’re looking at something like this if that’s what you want to do:

image

A dedicated SQL server will require:

Component Minimum Recommended
CPU Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz (x64)

Dual-Processor, Dual-Core, 2 GHz (x64) or greater
Memory

2 GB

 4 GB
Disk space (no local DB)

80 GB

 150 GB

A dedicated library server will require:

Component Minimum Recommended
CPU Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz (x64)

Dual-Processor, Dual-Core, 3.2 GHz (x64) or greater
Memory

2 GB

 2 GB
Disk space (no local DB)

Depends on what you store in it

Depends on what you store in it

A dedicated Self-Service Portal server will require:

Component Minimum Recommended
CPU Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz (x64)

Dual-Processor, Dual-Core, 2.8 GHz (x64) or greater
Memory

2 GB

 2 GB
Disk space (no local DB)

512 MB

20 GB

If all you want is hardware fault tolerance for VMM then the simple solution is to run VMM in a highly available virtual machine.  I don’t like System Center being a part of a general production Hyper-V cluster.  That’s because you create a chicken/egg situation with fault monitoring/responding.  If you want to virtualise System Center then consider setting up a dedicated host or cluster for the VMM, OpsMgr, ConfigMgr VMs.  DPM is realistically going to remain physical because of disk requirements.

Manage More Than 150 Hosts

It is recommended that you:

  • Not use VMM server to host your library.  Set the library up on a dedicated server/cluster.
  • Install SQL Server on a dedicated server/cluster.

The VMM server requirements are:

Component Minimum Recommended
CPU Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz (x64)

Dual-Processor, Dual-Core, 3.6 GHz (x64) or greater
Memory

4 GB

 8 GB
Disk space (no local DB)

10 GB

 50 GB

The database server requirements are:

Component Minimum Recommended
CPU Pentium 4, 2 GHz (x64)

Dual-Processor, Dual-Core, 2.8 GHz (x64) or greater
Memory

4 GB

 8 GB
Disk space (no local DB)

150 GB

 200 GB

A dedicated library server will require:

Component Minimum Recommended
CPU Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz (x64)

Dual-Processor, Dual-Core, 3.2 GHz (x64) or greater
Memory

2 GB

 2 GB
Disk space (no local DB)

Depends on what you store in it

Depends on what you store in it

A dedicated Self-Service Portal server will require:

Component Minimum Recommended
CPU Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz (x64)

Dual-Processor, Dual-Core, 3.2 GHz (x64) or greater
Memory

2 GB

 8 GB
Disk space (no local DB)

10 GB

40 GB

VMM Console

The software requirements are:

  • Either Windows 7 with SP1 or Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1
  • PowerShell 2.0 (included in the OS)
  • .NET 3.5 SP1 (installed by default in Windows 7 and a feature in W2008 R2 – VMM setup will enable it for you)

Managing up to 150 hosts will require:

Component Minimum Recommended
CPU Pentium 4, 550 MHz

Pentium 4, 1 GHz or more
Memory

512 MB

 1 GB
Disk space (no local DB)

512 MB

2 GB

Managing over 150 hosts will require:

Component Minimum Recommended
CPU

Pentium 4, 1 GHz

Pentium 4, 2 GHz or more
Memory

1 GB

 2 GB
Disk space (no local DB)

512 MB

4 GB

Managed Hosts

Supported Hyper-V hosts are below. 

Parent OS Edition Service Pack
Windows Server 2008 R2 (Full or Server Core)

Enterprise or Datacenter

Service Pack 1 or earlier
Hyper-V Server 2008 R2  
Windows Server 2008 (Full or Server Core)

Enterprise or Datacenter

Service Pack 1 or earlier

Please note that the following are not listed as supported:

  • Hyper-V Server 2008
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard edition
  • Windows Server 2008 Standard edition

In the beta, Windows Server 2008 is not supported.

Supported VMware hosts are listed below.  They must be managed by vCenter Server 4.1.

  • ESXi 4.1
  • ESX 4.1
  • ESXi 3.5
  • ESX 3.5

There is no mention of vSphere/ESXi 5 at the moment.  That’s understandable – both VMM and the VMware v5 product set were being developed at the same time.  Maybe support for v5 will appear later.

Citrix XenServer 5.6 FP1 can also be managed as standalone hosts or as Resource Pools if you deploy the Microsoft SCVMM XenServer Integration Suite to your hosts.

Bare Metal Host Deployment

The requirements for being able to use VMM 2012 to deploy Hyper-V hosts to bare metal machines are:

Item Notes
Windows Server 2008 R2 Windows Deployment Services (WDS) PXE Server to boot the bare metal up on the network.  No other PXE service is supported.
Boot Management Controller (BMC)

This is a server management card:

  • Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) versions 1.5 or 2.0
  • Data Center Management Interface (DCMI) version 1.0
  • Hewlett-Packard Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) 2
  • System Management Architecture for Server Hardware (SMASH) version 1.0 over WS-Management (WS-Man)
VHD image A Windows Server 2008 R2 host OS captured as a generalized VHD image.  Have a look into WIM2VHD or maybe using a VM to create this.
Host Hardware Drivers NIC, Storage, etc.

Update Management

A dedicated WSUS root server, running WSUS 3.0 SP2.  It cannot be a downstream server because that is not supported.  There will be a lot of processed updates so this may require a dedicated server (possible a VM).  If you install WSUS on a VMM server cluster then you must install the WSUS Administrator Console on each node in that cluster.

70-681 (Windows 7/Office 2010 Deployment) Exam Preparation

I’ve been asked several times during the last week about how to prepare for 70-681, the exam on deploying Windows 7 and Office 2010, so I thought it was worthy of a blog post.  The issue is that there is no guidance from Microsoft on how to prepare for it in terms of materials.  And that is because it pulls in information from all over the place.  Think about it; Windows 7 deployment can include:

  • MAP
  • ACT
  • WAIK/ImageX
  • WDS
  • MDT
  • ConfigMgr OSD/Zero Touch

That’s 6 different products.  By the way, we cover all that in Mastering Windows 7 Deployment.  And that’s just Windows.  This exam also covers Office 2010.  They typically go hand in hand, which is why the exam includes both topics.  And this certification will be mandatory from May 2012 for the Microsoft partner Desktop competency (new and renewing partners).

If you want blogs/websites to read for preparation then check out:

From time to time, Microsoft is known to run classes for partners on training.  Your registered partner contacts in your company should be getting email announcements from the local MSFT partner team with any such information.  These courses are usually anywhere from free to very economic.  This is just a starting point to get the attendees on the ladder.  A course cannot be a complete exam prep.  And folks like Rhonda Layfield (USA) and Johan Arwidmark (in Europe but also USA) are known to run their own deployment training classes which can be attended by the public (for a fee).

In the end, most of the OS deployment stuff centres on a few things like WinPE, WSIM, SysPrep, and drivers.  I did the Vista/O2007 exam and Office deployment questions asked about evaluation/migration stuff.  To be honest, nothing prepares you for this exam like doing a lot of work in a lab.  That’s where your MSDN/TechNet licensing and a virtualisation host come in really handy.  You can get a little prep work done also in the TechNet Labs for Windows 7.

Mastering Windows 7 Deployment is Published

I’ve just recived an email from Sybex to say that the third book that I’ve been involved with, Mastering Windows 7 Deployment, has just started shipping from their warehouse(s).  Right now, Amazon.com is still on preorder but that will likely change in the coming hours or days.  The Wiley (Sybex is part of the Wiley group) site is live right now.

Who contributed?  Me, Darril Gibson (trainer/consultant, also of Mastering Windows Server), Kenneth van Surksum (Dutch MVP and well known blogger), Rhonda Layfield (deployment MVP, author, speaker, trainer), not to mention deployment MVPs/gurus Johan Arwidmark and Mikael Nystrom.  It was quite a cast to work with!  Big thanks to anyone I worked with on the project, especially those in Sybex who worked on the project.

The book takes a very practical look at how to do a Windows 7 deployment project.  It starts out by doing the assessment using MAP.  From there, issues with application compatibility are dealt with.  You learn about WAIK, using WDS, MDT, user state transfer, and even how to do zero touch installations using System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (including R2/R3).  I’d buy it if I wasn’t one of the contributors 🙂

Sample Chapter: Mastering Windows 7 Deployment

Last year was pretty busy.  Not only did I write Mastering Hyper-V Deployment (with MVP Patrick Lownds helping), but that project was sandwiched by me writing a number of chapters for Mastering Windows 7 Deployment.  That Windows 7 book is due out somethime this month.

If you browse onto the Sybex website you can get a sneak peak into what the book is like.  There is a sample exceprt from the book, along with the TOC.

The book aims to cover all the essential steps in a Windows 7 deployment … from the assessment, solving application compatibility issues, understanding WAIK (and digging deeper), learnign about WDS for the first time (and digging deeper), more of that on MDT, and even doing zero touch deployments using Configuration Manager 2007.  A good team of people contributed on the book from all over the place … and the tech reviewers were some of the biggest names around (I wet myself with fear when I saw who they were).

Give it a look, and don’t be shy of placing an order if you like what you see 🙂

Newest Book: Mastering Windows 7 Deployment

No sooner than Mastering Hyper-V Deployment is done, I’m working on Mastering Windows 7 Deployment.  I’m contributing 6 chapters to this one and I’m half way through writing the draft editions.  This book is providing all the steps and all the methods to do a Windows 7 deployment project using the MS product set.  I don’t know what the schedule is at the moment.  I’d suspect early next year will be the RTM.

 

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Sysprep & Hyper-V

You can automate the deployment of Hyper-V host servers using Sysprep.  W2008 would disable the autostart of the hypervisor in any machine deployed from a sysprepped template.  Ben Armstrong has confirmed that this is different with Windows Server 2008 R2; the hypervisor will automatically start.

You could use soemthing like WDS to deploy a new host.  I’d prefer MDT or ConfigMgr OSD because they use task sequences.  That will allow you to automate a bunch of operations using command line, batch scripts, or PowerShell scripts.

I did actually use WDS to build my original W2008 cluster back in 2008.  I didn’t have ConfigMgr and I wasn’t comfortable yet with MDT.  I prepped the initial build, figured out the kinks, and modified the images.  I repeated for the pilot.  The production deployment was completed in 1 hour (bare metal to functioning Hyper-V cluster) from a meeting room in a hotel room via VPN and HP ILO.

Heck, if you use one of the tasq sequence deployment solutions for normal server deployment then you only need to create a new task sequence to run against an existing Windows image (most probably Datacenter edition) and use the Server Manager powershell modules to enable the Failover Clustering feature and the Hyper-V role, reboot, install DPM/OpsMgr agents, etc.

So, if you deploy Hyper-V hosts freqeuently or you are planning a huge farm deployment, take a look at Sysprep, WDS, MDT and ConfigMgr OSD to automate the process.  A little work up front can save you a lot of time later on and give you a consistent result.

Notes for sysprepping a configured Hyper-V host:

  • External networks in the image will be converted into internal networks.
  • Passthrough disks will need to be reconfigured in the Hyper-V Manager.
  • The Dynamic MAC address pool on the host will be recreated so that it is unique.

Webcast Recording: Deploying Windows 7 & Windows Server 2008 R2

This morning I spoke at my first Microsoft Springboard STEP event.  The subject was “Deploying Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2” and featured WAIK/WSIM, Windows Deployment Services (WDS) and Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010.  We had a nice turn out and apart from my XP VM acting a bit funny at the end, all went well.  It was very much a demo, demo, demo session.

I recorded the webcast.  You can see the entire thing, unedited, right here.  It will be available for 365 days from now.  And here is the slide deck:

Thanks again to the folks at Microsoft Ireland for organising the venue and for helping to spread the word and thanks too to all who came along or tuned in live.