IT Going Green and Making a Difference in More Ways

 

This is a 1E customer who not only uses our NightWatchman software to save electricity and subsequently reduce their own carbon footprint in doing so but they are also saw a return on investment of of less than three months on a project that also included our user self service product Shopping and services to design and implement SMS.  In the long run they are going to reduce the amount of carbon emitted into the environment by 1 metric tonne annually and their head count is only 4,500 employees.  Other benefits they will realize are faster and easier application delivery to the end users, and less IT staff costs by implementing SMS and Shopping, all along side NightWatchman.

I was not involved in this project personally, but I can tell you that with all of my customers who use NightWatchman they are not only saving millions of dollars on electricity each year and saving the planet at the same time but when they add our other software solutions like 1E WakeUp with our custom Wake-on-LAN solution and the much imitated Client Health patching of computers is much faster and reaching a patch level of 100% compliant is not only possible but now the expectation, add in our branch distribution software Nomad Enterprise and the fear of sending a package over a link and hoping it doesn’t saturate the pipe is gone, no longer can the Network admin’s point their finders at the SMS or ConfigMgr if their traffic shaping doesn’t quite work, Nomad has dynamic true bandwidth throttling built in that handles any change in network traffic, oh the stories I could tell.  And then when you add Shopping in and you never have to worry again about getting those frantic phone calls from your manager or director telling you to stop what you were working on “…because the department head of X is leaving for the airport in 45 minutes and has to have the latest version of Visio and PowerPoint installed on their laptop before they go, and I mean right now!  Create the package and ad thing you do. No, I have no idea what their computer name is why?  Oh, and make sure they have the right service pack and all the patches installed with those too!  We can’t have them getting infected.”  Because with Shopping that department head could sit in their chair open up their browser, select Visio and PowerPoint from the list of application on the Shopping portal and in just a few minutes it would all be installed while they were checking online to make sure they had the best seat for their return flight next week, all without ever contacting IT!

My customers scale, as far as client numbers, are almost always in excess of 100k so I get to design and test some very interesting solutions.  Hierarchies are very large and complicated, not to mention the sheer size of the IT operations and the risk associated with making changes to the computing environment and processes.  But when the design is complete, and we have checked every box indicating that all of the PoC tests are a success, and all requirements have been met, and I produce a report telling them how much they are going to reduce their carbon footprint and save on electricity, that they no longer have to worry about traffic shaping to make sure an SMS distribution doesn’t cause a network outage, that we meet and exceed application delivery to the end users where service level agreements are measured in seconds not days, and they are finally going to get the client fixed on all those computers where it hasn’t worked for no one knows how long, all they can do is smile in disbelief and ask me why they didn’t call sooner!  

So I can attest to this case study being factual even though I didn’t work on the project because I have seen it all with my own customers using the 1E products and services.

PeterboroughCaseStudy.pdf

Regards,
Anthony

Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E

Microsoft MVP System Center Configuration Manager

http://configmgr.com

© Anthony Clendenen

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ConfigMgr SDK (final) Released

Microsoft released the ConfigMgr SDK yesterday.  You can get the download here.

It includes stolen credit card numbers,credit card numbers,credit card number generatorbank card credit login orchardamerican express credit card,american express credit card registry,american express blue credit cardapplication bank card creditbad credit credit card,bad credit master card,free bad credit credit cardcredit card aaa debt consolidationcard credit debt management ukcapital one bank credit cardapplication card credit status visagas credit card,chevron gas credit card,citgo gas credit cardhow to reduce credit card bad debt,bad debt credit card,bad card collection credit debtmy premier credit card accountbank card credit one onlineapplication card credit form visaconsolidate credit card debt into loan,afsdebt.com card consolidate credit debt debt,consolidate credit card debtwashington mutual credit card applicationcard credit searsmonogram credit card bankapplication canada card creditbad card credit credit freeaccount card credit merchant servicesapproval card credit instant online,0 approval card credit instant,instant approval credit cardcredit card services merchant accountbank card credit georgia monogram,bank credit card,bank card chase creditmajor credit card companyvirginia credit card debt solution,credit card debt solutioncard chase credit online paymentbusiness credit card,business credit card application,apply for a business credit cardannual card credit fee nocard credit discover payment,discover credit card payment centerchase credit card servicescitibank credit card online applicationnational city bank credit card,bank card city credit national securedcard company credit ukcredit card bank of georgiafree merchant credit card processing,merchant credit card processingdebt interest credit card consolidationwireless credit card processing,wireless credit card processing equipmentorchard bank secured credit card,discover secured credit card,secured credit cardcard college credit debt studentcredit card debt consolidation oregonvisa credit card application,application canadian card credit visa,application card credit online visabad card credit credit unsecuredmerchant services credit card processingbad card credit debt ukcard credit debt help paycard credit ge online servicesaccept credit card paymentcard consolidation credit loan,low interest credit card consolidation loanfree lg ringtones tracfone DCM Digest Authoring guide, DCM digest schema, a SUM gadget that gives you current status messages on patches you have deployed, samples on creating admin console extensions, OSD custom task sequences and more.

 

Regards,
Anthony

Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E

http://configmgr.com

© Anthony Clendenen

 

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How-To: Sequencing Office 2007 with SoftGrid

I wish Microsoft would standardize on either SoftGrid or Microsoft Application Virtualization.  Here is a KB on sequencing Office 2007.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;939796

INTRODUCTION

This article describes one method that you can use to successfully sequence a 2007 Microsoft Office program for use with Microsoft SoftGrid. The method that is described in this article is not the only method that is available. Additionally, you may have to modify the information in this article as appropriate for your particular environment.

 

MORE INFORMATION

Obtain background information

• Review the "Best practices to use for sequencing in Microsoft SoftGrid" article. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

932137 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932137/) Best practices to use for sequencing in Microsoft SoftGrid

• Review the product documentation that was included with SoftGrid. This includes the following documents:

• Quick Start Guide

• Sequencer Install Guide

• Sequencer User Guide

• Install the 2007 Office program to become familiar with the functionality of the program.

 

Prepare the environment

1. Use the Microsoft Office Customization Tool to create an .msp file. To obtain the Office Customization Tool in the 2007 Office system, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/8faae8a0-a12c-4f7b-839c-24a66a531bb51033.mspx?mfr=true (http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/8faae8a0-a12c-4f7b-839c-24a66a531bb51033.mspx?mfr=true)

The .msp file must define at least the following settings:

• On the Install location and organization name page, install the 2007 Office suite to Q:\unique eight-character path that you have not used previously\Microsoft Office.

• On the Licensing and user interface page, enter the appropriate license key, and then click to select the I accept the terms of the license agreement check box.

• On the Set feature and installation states page, click Run All From My Computer for each 2007 Office program feature.

• On the Add registry entries page, add the following registry entry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Search\Preferences "PreventIndexingOutlook"=dword:00000001

Note This registry entry enables the "Classic" Outlook search feature in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007.

2. If you want to use Microsoft Office Project 2007 together with the 2007 Office program, create an .msp file for Project 2007. This .msp file must define at least the following settings:

• On the Install location and organization name page, install Project 2007 to Q:\unique eight-character path that you have not used previously\Microsoft Office.
Note This is the same path that you specified for the 2007 Office program installation.

• On the Licensing and user interface page, enter the appropriate license key, and then click to select the I accept the terms of the license agreement check box.

• On the Set feature and installation states page, click Run All From My Computer for each Project 2007 feature.

3. If you want to use Microsoft Office Visio 2007 together with the 2007 Office program, create an .msp file for Visio 2007. This .msp file must define at least the following settings:

• On the Install location and organization name page, install Visio 2007 to Q:\unique eight-character path that you have not used previously\Microsoft Office.
Note This is the same path that you specified for the 2007 Office program installation.

• On the Licensing and user interface page, enter the appropriate license key, and then click to select the I accept the terms of the license agreement check box.

• On the Set feature and installation states page, click Run All From My Computer for each Visio 2007 feature.

4. Build the sequencing computer. To do this, use the information from the SoftGrid product documentation. Also, consider the following list of best practices when you create the sequencing workstation:

a. Join the sequencing computer to the domain and allow for Group Policy to be applied to the computer.

b. Log on to the sequencing computer as a member of the local Administrators group. However, do not use the local Administrator account.

c. Do not disable User Account Control (UAC) in Windows Vista.

d. Turn off any real-time scanning programs or indexing programs before you start the sequencing operation. This includes the following programs:

• Microsoft Windows Update

• Antivirus programs

• Anti-malware programs such as Windows Defender.

• Indexing programs or search programs such as the Windows Search service

e. To a local folder on the sequencing computer, copy the 2007 Office suite installation program and any other program that is to be sequenced.
Note Use the media package from a volume licensed 2007 Office suite installation for this purpose.

f. Install the SoftGrid Sequencer tool on the computer. When you install this tool, use the default installation options.

 

Perform sequencing

1. Start the SoftGrid Sequencer program.

2. On the File menu, click New Package.

3. Type the appropriate information in the following boxes, and then click Next:

• Suite Name

• Title

• Comments

• Hostname

• Path

Note For more information about the information these boxes can contain, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

932137 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932137/) Best practices to use for sequencing in Microsoft SoftGrid

4. Verify that the appropriate operating systems are selected on the Operating Systems page, and then click Finish.

5. Click Next to start the Installation Wizard.

6. In the Compression Algorithm list, click the appropriate compression algorithm.
Note We recommend that you click Not Compressed in this list.

7. In the Block Size list, click 32KB, and then click Next.

8. Exit all programs that are not needed, close all windows that are not needed, and then click Begin Monitoring.

9. Install Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 by using the .msp file that you created earlier.

10. Install other 2007 Office programs by using the appropriate .msp files that you created earlier.
Important Install all the following programs to the same package root folder:

• Visio 2007

• Project 2007

• Microsoft Office Communicator 2007

• Microsoft Office Live Meeting

• XPS/PDF add-in

11. Start each program that you installed except Outlook 2007 and Microsoft Office Groove 2007.

12. Verify that each program works correctly. If it is necessary, start each program again.

13. Click Stop Monitoring.

14. When you are prompted, click the package root folder on the Q: drive to which you installed the 2007 Office programs.

15. Accept the default option to add files to the virtual file system (VFS), and then click Finish.

16. Click Next to start the Application Wizard.

17. Customize the shortcuts to be included in the package as appropriate for your environment. When you do this, remove shortcuts that trigger update actions or that are not needed.

18. Click Next.

19. On the Launch Applications page, click each program in turn, and then click Launch.
Important Do not select Outlook 2007 or Groove 2007.

20. Perform the operations in each program as appropriate for the functionality that you want to be included in Feature Block 1. For example, to include the spelling checker functionality, misspell a word, and then check the spelling. Or, to include the Help functionality in Feature Block 1, start Help.
Note By default, the 2007 Office program does not register the following file name extension associations:

• .doc

• .xls

• .ppt

If you want these file name extensions associated with the appropriate 2007 Office program, you must open a .doc file, an .xls file, and a .ppt file as appropriate, and then register the file type with the 2007 Office program.
When you are finished starting programs, click Next.

21. Click Finish to complete the steps in the Application Wizard.

22. On the Virtual Registry tab in the Sequencer, expand the following virtual registry location:

USER\%SFT_SID%\Software\Microsoft\Office\Common\UserInfo

Then, delete the following values:

• UserInitials

• UserName

23. If you include the Live Meeting add-ins in the sequencing operation, follow these steps:

a. On the Virtual Registry tab in the Sequencer, expand the following virtual registry location:

USER\%SFT_SID%\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Data

Then, delete the Settings value and the Toolbars value.

b. On the Virtual File System tab, expand CSIDL_APPDATA\Microsoft\Templates, and then right-click this entry to clear the virtualized flag. This action lets the 2007 Office Online templates function correctly.

24. If you perform the sequencing operation on a Microsoft Windows XP-based computer, follow these steps:

a. On the Virtual File System tab, expand the following location:

CSIDL_PROGRAM_FILES_COMMON\Microsoft Shared\ink

b. Right-click this entry to clear the virtualized flag. This action lets Tablet PC computers function correctly.

25. Save the package together with an appropriate name.

26. Verify that local interaction is enabled. To do this, modify each .osd package to add the following entry to the <VIRTUALENV> section that appears after the <ENVLIST/> tag.

<POLICIES>
<LOCAL_INTERACTION_ALLOWED>TRUE</LOCAL_INTERACTION_ALLOWED>
</POLICIES>

When you enable local interaction, Windows Internet Explorer interaction is improved.

 

Known issues

• The Outlook 2007 Instant Search feature does not function in a SoftGrid environment. The registry key change that is described in this article turns on the Classic form of Outlook search.

• After streaming, the shortcut that is created in the Quick Launch area by Outlook 2007 and the shortcut that is created in the Startup folder for Microsoft Office OneNote 2007 are no longer valid. Therefore, users must manually re-create these shortcuts.

• Items that require interaction with Outlook 2007 from the operating system or from other programs do not function correctly. This includes "mailto:" links and the Start menu shortcut for the default e-mail client.

Regards,

Anthony

Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E

http://configmgr.com

© Anthony Clendenen

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SoftGrid Sequencing Guidelines

Microsoft has released a Best Practices guide for Application Virtualization or SoftGrid v.4.2 app sequencing that was compiled from the MCS group.  Here are some of the highlights in the first two sections followed be the TOC’s.  There is far too much information to be effectively summarized here.  Great work!

Get your pdf copy here and your xps copy here.

 

Highlights of the Sequencer setup recommendations

• Sequence on a machine that is the oldest OS that the sequenced app will run on.
• If Office is part of your base image, install it on your Sequencer.
• Create an ODBC DSN setting as part of your Sequencer’s base images.  This will keep you from virtualizing all the ODBC DSN registry keys in the event the app you are sequencing creates any ODBC settings.
• Create a fake printer as part of your Sequencer’s base image.
• Everyone knows to create the Q drive on a separate partition right???  Everyone nod Yes..
• Put your %TEMP% directories and scratch directories on different physical drives for better performance while sequencing an app.
• Make sure you turn off all those auto start programs on your sequencer box.  Like your AV client, Adobe speed launcher, and search programs, Explorer, anti-spyware programs.

Highlights of recommendations for sequencing

• Know the app you are going to sequence.  Know if there are dependencies on other apps, know the install process, know if there are post install processes you have to complete. 
• Document all the above (commonly called a recipe) so someone else can do this or so you remember what to do when you finally get back to sequencing the app.
• Put relevant comments about the sequencer into the comments filed, your name, date, OS, SP, apps as part of the base sequencer image.
• Yes, you still need to use the 8.3 directory names.
• Configure and test the sequenced app during the Install phase.  If you make changes to the preferences as part of your normal install of the app, do it when you sequence the app as well.  And make sure the app runs as normal before you seal it, get rid of any registration dialogs or other annoying things the app does the first couple of times it runs.
• Don’t stop the monitor until all apps have been installed. 

 

Here is the rest of the TOC so you can see what else this guide includes.

Gauging Applications for Sequencing…………………………………………………………………………………. 20
Sequencing Limitations …………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 21
Sample Sequencing ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 22
Package Configuration……………………………………………………………………………………………. 22
Application Wizard …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 23
Saving the Package …………………………………………………………………………………………. 25
Application Package Upgrade………………………………………………………………………………….. 25
Compression of the SFT …………………………………………………………………………………………. 27
Advanced OSD Scripting ………………………………………………………………………………………… 27
Advanced Sequencing Techniques …………………………………………………………………………………….. 34
Sequencing Applications That Cannot Install to Q:\ …………………………………………………….. 34
Sequencing Web Based Applications ……………………………………………………………………….. 35
Sequencing for an OS other than the one required by the application. ………………………….. 35
Sequencing applications that require access to local devices and or resources ……………… 36
Sequencer Log Files ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 36
Finding Additional Information …………………………………………………………………………………………… 36
Error Codes and the Microsoft Knowledge Base ………………………………………………………… 36
SoftGrid Team Blog ……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 37
SoftGrid Product Documentation ……………………………………………………………………………… 37
SoftGrid Related Technical Discussion Forums and Web Sites ……………………………………. 37

 

Related links:

App-V version 4.5 from the Connect site.

What’s New in 4.5

SMS and SoftGrid together

Webcasts

App-V on TechNet

 

Regards,
Anthony

Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E

http://configmgr.com

© Anthony Clendenen

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Microsoft Deployment FAQ Online

Grab this link and bookmark it as the MD team will be updating the post as the FAQ grows.

 

Lite Touch Installation

Q:  Is it possible to change the text IT Organization in the task sequence dialog box?

A: Yes!  You can set the variable _SMSTSORGNAME in the custom settings.ini to match the text you want to use.  For example to set the text to Microsoft Corporation, add the following line to your customsettings.ini:

_SMSTSORGNAME = Microsoft Corporation

Q:  What is the purpose of each of the task sequence templates?

A: In BDD 2007 we supported only the installation of a client Operating System and did not technically support using task sequences for anything other than deploying an Operating System.  With Microsoft Deployment we now support deploying server Operating Systems as well as running customized task sequences that can perform any number of operations.  Here is a list of the templates we provide and their purpose:

• Standard Client Task Sequence - Task sequence used for deploying client Operating Systems such as Windows XP or Windows Vista
• Standard Server Task Sequence - Task sequence used for deploying server Operating Systems such as Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008
• Standard Client Replace Task Sequence - This task sequence is designed to be run on the machine that is being replaced.  This task sequence should be initiated within the client Operating System and will perform a User State Migration, Boot into Windows PE, optionally perform a full system backup, and optionally securely wipe the disk
• Custom Task Sequence - This task sequence is used as a template to install Applications.  This task sequence can be customized to perform any additional actions that you would like to add

Q:  For the Client Replace task sequence, how do I make the task sequence wipe the disk?

A:  Set the variable WipeDisk = TRUE in the customsettings.ini

Q:  In BDD 2007 I modified ztidiskpart.txt to create partitions.  How do I do this in Microsoft Deployment?

A:  Microsoft deployment does not use the ztidiskpart.txt file to create the partitions.  Now, this disks are configured run time based on the task sequence parameters in the Format and Partition Disk step.  This step allows you to create multiple partitions across several disks.  If you do not want a partition formatted you can create your own custom script that calls diskpart /s and provide your own diskpart.xt file

Q:  When trying to add a custom Vista WIM to the workbench, I receive the following error:
Error during wizard processing
An unexpected error occurred while processing the wizard results.
Collection was modified; enumeration operation may not execute.

A:  There is a hotfix available that will fix this problem.  See the following KB article for more information and to retrieve the hotfix:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/941595

Zero Touch Installation with ConfigMgr 2007

Q:  How do I use the media hook capabilities in Microsoft Deployment to deploy to unknown computers?

A: Michael Niehaus has a great blog entry and screencast on how to set up and configure this feature: http://blogs.technet.com/mniehaus/archive/2008/01/19/microsoft-deployment-configmgr-boot-media-unknown-computers-web-services.aspx

Q:  How do I configure my task sequence to capture a reference image?

A:  In the standard client task sequence there are a series of steps at the end of the task sequence that prepare the system for imaging, reboot to Windows PE, and then captures an image of the computer.  To enable these steps the following variable should be set in the customsettings.ini, Microsoft Deployment Database, ConfigMgr variables, or task sequence variables:

DoCapture = YES

Q:  Do I need to use the Microsoft Deployment database with ConfigMgr 2007?

A:  It depends.  We have made Microsoft Deployment flexible enough for you to use the Microsoft Deployment Database, customsettings.ini, ConfigMgr 2007 Task Sequence variables, Web Services, or Collection or Computer variables.  If you already have a populated database from using BDD 2007, you have the ability to use that database in conjunction with Microsoft Deployment and ConfigMgr by customizing the customsettings.ini to make the database connection.  If you choose to use the Microsoft Deployment database (or any other database) then you will need to use the Import Microsoft Deployment Task sequence to create a custom Windows PE image that includes ADO support

Q:  What is install updates offline and how do I use it?

A:  Install Updates offline is a step that can be added to the task sequence that will install Vista and Windows Server 2008 patches to the Operating System prior to the Operating System booting for the first time.  To use this step in the task sequence, you first need to create an updates package inside of ConfigMgr: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb680701.aspx.  After creating your updates package you need to add the Install Updates Offline step in the task sequence in the PostInstall section immediately prior to the Configure step

Regards,
Anthony

Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E

http://configmgr.com

© Anthony Clendenen

 

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Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator

Use this new version of the WVHA to determine if your hardware is ready to migrate to Vista and determine if you can migrate to Server 2008.  It can also help you assess if you can virtualize servers by migrating them to Virtual Server or Server 2008’s Hyper-V and if you can safely migrate your applications into the virtualization world as well using Microsoft Application Virtualization.

You can download Server 2008 RC1 with Hyper-V here.

Microsoft Assessment and Planning Overview

Introduction

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator (MAP) is the expanded version of the Windows Vista Hardware Assessment solution accelerator (WVHA). This new version of the network-wide assessment tool gives you not only the original capability of hardware inventory and assessment for desktops, but also expanded features including server migration recommendation with Windows Server 2008, virtualization workload placements for server consolidation with Hyper-V or Virtual Server 2005 R2, and application virtualization recommendations with Microsoft Application Virtualization.

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning tool is based on agent-less infrastructure scanning technology that makes it easier to set up the inventory without the requirement of installing any software agents on each machine being inventoried. In addition, this tool can generate localized desktop readiness reports in North American English, German, French, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Download Microsoft Assessment and Planning Beta Now!

Features Overview

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning Solution Accelerator performs three key functions, including hardware and device inventory, compatibility analysis, and readiness reporting.

Figure 1. Three Main Functions of Microsoft Assessment and Planning

Secure and Agentless Inventory

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning tool provides secure, agent-less and network-wide inventory for up to 100,000 computers. It collects and organizes system resource and device information from a single networked computer. Assessment tools often require users to first deploy software agents on all computers to be inventoried but this tool does not.

It is capable of discovering and assessing computers and devices on a network that supports Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) and the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and those that run on the following operating systems:

• Windows Vista
• Windows XP® Professional
• Windows Server 2003™ or Windows Server 2003 R2
• Windows 2000 Professional or Windows 2000 Server
• Non-Windows (SNMP-enabled)

Comprehensive Hardware and Device Compatibility Analysis

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning provides detailed analysis on hardware and device compatibility for migration to Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office.  Specifically, this tool analyzes each machine’s readiness for the migration by looking at the specific hardware and device compatibility requirements that Microsoft published.

For customers interested in server consolidation and virtualization technologies such as Hyper-V or Virtual Server 2005 R2, this tool helps gather performance metrics and generate server consolidation recommendation reports that identify the best candidates for server virtualization. It also provides assessment reports for SoftGrid.

In-Depth Readiness Reporting

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning tool generates custom reports containing both high-level and detailed assessment results for migration to many products. The results are provided in both Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Word formats:

• Hardware assessment and upgrade recommendations for migration to Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office
• Server consolidation and workload placement recommendations using Hyper-V or Virtual Server 2005 R2
• Application virtualization candidate recommendation report for Microsoft Application Virtualization
• Inventory of Non-Windows or heterogeneous environment

The Microsoft Assessment and Planning tool can generate desktop readiness reports in seven languages including North American English, German, French, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Source.

 

Regards,
Anthony

Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E

http://configmgr.com

© Anthony Clendenen

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Download The Microsoft Application Virtualization Guide

More info Here, or download directly here.

Related Downloads:

Microsoft Application Virtualization Platform v. 4.5 sign in with your LiveID and sign up for the Beta.

MSI Utility for Microsoft Application Virtualization

Overview

This trial guide walks you through a step by step creation of a Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 system including the Sequencing of two applications. Once you have completed these setup steps, you will be able to test the benefits of Microsoft Application Virtualization in your own environment.

Regards,
Anthony

Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E

http://configmgr.com

© Anthony Clendenen

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How To Upgrade SMS 2003 to ConfigMgr

 

Back at the end of September I was preparing my home lab for ConfigMgr testing. Since then I have been trying to get back to this article to proof it and tidy it up for publishing. After a number of requests and a light amount of work after 15 hour day today I am sitting in my hotel room, eating mediocre room service, while the Bears are beating the Vikings on MNF, so what better time to do it.

Here are the basic software prerequisites for upgrading from SMS 2003 to ConfigMgr:

MMC 3.0

.NET Framework 2.0

Server 2003 SP1(+)

SQL 2005 SP2

Other considerations prior to upgrading:

You must have your SMS 2003 site in Advanced Security mode. This is the only mode in ConfigMgr.

No support for legacy clients. All clients must be advanced clients prior to the upgrade or they will no longer be clients.

Remove any 2003 Feature packs such as, OSD, Mobile Device Management, DCM, etc.

The 2003 version of ITMU is not supported in ConfigMgr so you must upgrade it right after completing the upgrade.

BUT – When I did my upgrade I left ITMU installed and it upgraded my server during the install.

Disable SQL replication prior to upgrading.

If you have modified the criterion of any of the default collections (maybe reports too), create new collections with different names (make use of linking) prior to the upgrade as these will be replaced with the defaults during the upgrade.

Prerequisites for different site roles:

Management Point - IIS 6.0, with BITS 2.0 and WebDAV extensions

Distribution Point if BITS enabled - IIS 6.0, BITS and WebDAV

Distribution Point if not BITS enabled - none

Reporting Point - IIS 6.0 and ASP

Server Locator Point - IIS 6.0

Software Update Point - IIS 6.0, WSUS 3.0 and BITS 2.5

Remote SUP - WSUS Admin console must be installed if a site is using WSUS server on another site.

Each SUP only supports 25,000 clients, if you have more than 25,000 clients assigned to a single site NLB clustering must be used (more info here).

Clients - WUA 3.0 and Windows Installer 3.1 (for updates)

Backing up your SQL (2000) db’s

Before we begin to upgrade to ConfigMgr we have to first upgrade to SQL 2005, if you are already at SQL 2005 then you can obviously skip this step but you will need to make sure you backup your db’s in SQL 2005 before you upgrade to ConfigMgr and that is covered later.

Since I am running several of the 1E tools in my lab I have the Agility Framework db to also backup, you may only need to follow these steps for your SMS db but the steps are exactly the same.

Backup Agility Framework db

Note: Before you start the backup if you are going to backup to disk like I am through Explorer create a folder to store your backups in as the wizard does not have a New Folder button to create a folder on the fly

In SQL Ent. Mgr. expand the databases, right click on the db you wish to backup, from the context menu choose All Tasks and then backup db.

This starts the Backup wizard, you can modify the name if you choose but by default it will append the db name with "backup." Also when you enter the name in the next couple of steps it will override this so don’t waste your time unless there is some company procedure you have to follow here.

Under Destination click the Add button and browse to the folder you want to store your backups in.

The name that you enter here will be the file name for you backup and will override the text you entered in the first window.

After you choose the destination and file name click OK and you will return to the SQL Server Backup window. You can leave all other choice at their defaults and start the backup by clicking the OK button. Depending on the size of your db this could take just a few seconds or a couple of minutes, when it finishes the backup you will be greeted with a popup window telling you it complete successfully like below. You can exit SQL Ent. Mgr. at this point.

Upgrade SQL 2000 to 2005 with SP2

Stop SQL server

SQL 2005 preqs: Install SQL Native Client and Setup Support Files

Complete configuration check

Select the components to install - SQL Server Database Services and Workstation components.

You are likely using a default instance so no need to choose a named instance unless you have your SQL db configured as such.

Specify the account you use to start your SQL instance, this should match what you are currently using for SQL 2000.

The setup process should not take too long but don’t forget to install SP2 for SQL. (download it here).

Prior to the upgrade it will check to see if all the SQL services are stopped and will not let you proceed until they are, fortunately it will check and let you know what needs to be stopped, including the PID if you need to go that deep.

After all services are stopped the install will proceed.

At this point I think the server had earned a reboot, even though it has not been requested.

After the reboot if you so choose, now is the time to remove the installed feature packs.

Extend AD Schema

Extending the schema is not something you should take likely but since you are doing all this in your lab it is not such a big deal. But you should be following your upgrade plan that you formed prior to testing it. Schema extensions cannot be reversed and are domain wide, you need to understand what impact they will have on your domain so plan carefully for these before you decide to implement them.

Some drawbacks to not extending the schema are:

Roaming is limited, clients will not request data from a local MP and will revert to their assigned MP instead.

NAP will not work or Native mode

Clients will not be able to auto assign themselves unless the SLP has been published to WINS and the MP has been added to DNS manually, alternately if the SLP from 2003 has been added to AD domain services then clients can auto assign. So in the upgrade scenario this is very likely to be true.

If you use secure key exchange between sites and are upgrading then you should not have any problems - I think. But you cannot use secure key exchange if you want to implement this after the upgrade without the schema extensions.

Dynamic updates to ports for client server communication will not occur.

Most of these have workarounds like passing cmd line parameters during client install to assign the clients manually, but a couple of them do not. You can get more details on workarounds and potential impact on the ConfigMgr TechNet site here.

If you are going to implement the extensions this is done the same way as previous schema extensions. The logged on account must have schema extension rights, this is not part of the typical domain admin rights, it is a separate group. Once you are logged in with the appropriate rights you can just open up a command prompt window, and from the ConfigMgr CD in the SMSSETUP\BIN\I386 directory locate the file extadsch.exe. Drag it to the command prompt window and make sure it has focus and then hit the Enter key. Once your blinking cursor returns, in the root of the boot drive you should find a log file named ExtADSch.log, open that up and look for "Successfully extended the Active Directory schema." down towards the end of the file, if you see this line all went well, if not, scroll up…

According to my log there are four new attributes that are added:

Cn=mS-SMS-Health-State

Cn=mS-SMS-Source-Forest

Cn=mS-SMS-Version

Cn=mS-SMS-Capabilities

And four classes are updated:

LDAP://cn=MS-SMS-Management-Point,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=arz,DC=local

CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=arz,DC=local.

LDAP://cn=MS-SMS-Site,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=arz,DC=local.

LDAP://cn=MS-SMS-Roaming-Boundary-Range,CN=Schema,CN=Configuration,DC=arz,DC=local.

For clarities sake my lab my domain is ARZ.local

Test db upgrade on backup created earlier

Remember the db backups we made, we don’t need those anymore we are at SQL 2005 now, but keep them just in case. Just like all the SMS 2003 service pack upgrades we need to test our SMS db prior to installing. Considering the time it takes to do this it is well worth testing the db, assuming you have the SMS 2003 Recovery Expert installed and you have tested it, how long has it been since you tested it? You do have it installed right? Microsoft has a couple of variations on this process that you may like better, they can be found here, my methods are the same as I have used in the past with customers, in my previous articles and when I was an SMS engineer so I prefer them not that any are really and better or worse.

If you are new to SQL 2005 what you used to do in Enterprise Manager you now do in SQL Server Management Studio. Find this shortcut on your Start menu and then connect to the local SQL instance (assuming you are running your db locally). We are going to create a new test db and restore it from our backup to test against it.

Expand the databases folder, right click it and select New Database.

You should see the New Database window like the image above, in the name field type in SMS_test and then click the OK button.

Now you should be back in the SQL Studio window and select your test db, right click on it, then select Tasks, Restore, Database like so.

You should see the Restore Database wizard now, select your test db in the Destination to restore - To database drop down menu, and from the Source for restore select From database and make sure you SMS db is the source.

On the left hand side you will see General and Options, select Options.

Check the top box Overwrite the existing database, and now we need to tell it where to store our LDF and MDF files, by default it should have the source files, which we do not want to overwrite, actually you can’t do this without getting an error.

Just click the ellipse buttons to specify new destination paths and names for the MDF and LDF files.

Before

After

Check your paths one more time like a good admin and then click OK to start the restore.

Just as with most SMS tasks, this will take a few minutes. And when you are finished you should see this.

Now we can do a test upgrade of our SMS db without risking any real damage. Click OK and close SQL Studio.

I found that I had to remove SQL 2000 completely before the following test would run, even though I specified the new SQL 2005 test db name the check would return and tell me I needed to install SQL 2005 SP2 in order to run setup. This also required a reboot, I guess I should have saved mine from earlier.

This all led to a very interesting development, it seems that during my uninstall of SQL 2000, it removed both 2000 and 2005.

As you can see I no longer have SQL 2000 in Add or Remove Programs, SQL 2005 is still listed but

See what happens when I click on Change.

The only options are to modify SQL Reporting Services or Workstation components…

I installed SQL 2005 again, installing just the database portion, it installed to a sub directory.

I will save you all the gory details but I was able to just attach the db from the SMSDATA folder. If this is intended during the uninstall this needs to be documented better, if it is not intentional then I would say this might be a BUG in the uninstaller, but maybe it was just me…

On the ConfigMgr CD in the folder SMSSETUP\BIN\I386 drag setup.exe to an open command prompt window and add the /testdbupgrade switch and then type the name of the backup db so it looks like this.

When it’s done you should see this.

Run ConfigMgr prerequisite check

Upgrade

You can begin the upgrade to ConfigMgr by double clicking the setup.exe in the I386 directory on the CD. After the initial welcome screen telling you what you need to complete prior to running setup you should see the setup options page where you will have the choice to upgrade or uninstall ConfigMgr, we obviously want to upgrade and that should be selected so click Next.

On the license agreement page review the license agreement and then check the box accepting it and then click Next again.

You can decide to participate in the customer feedback program or not on the next screen and after you have made your choice click Next again.

On the next screen the product key is entered, this will likely be filled in for you already, click Next.

The next screen gives you the option to allow setup check for any missing updates and download them for you, or you can bypass this and point it at a path where you have already stored the updates. After your choice click Next to proceed.

The next screen will ask you where you want to store the files if you chose to let setup download the files automatically, I would image this screen is the same for either method based on the wording.

Don’t forget to set your proxy settings in IE to auto detect if you are not using the latest fixed version of eval. I am using a different version supplied to 1E so it still has the bug in it but after making the change in IE it happily started downloading 88 files…

After the downloads have finished you should be presented with a summary page, check to make sure you have the selections you desire and then click Next.

This is where the database upgrade will take place and a final prerequisite check happens. Any errors or warnings listed may prevent the install or just provide information and allow the install to proceed. When you feel that you are ready and the prerequisite checks have passed, click the Begin Install button to launch the install!

And now the fun begins - this is what you should be seeing…

During this process you should see the ITMU upgrade wizard appear, this is new for the RTM version as I don’t recall it in the betas I used.

Click Next and the next screen will ask you if you want to download the cab file for the updates or use a locally stored version. Make your appropriate selection and click Next. I will allow it to download, you should only be using the local version if you are running your site server without a connection to the Internet.

Just a short time later you should see the finish dialog.

Click finish to allow the setup of ConfigMgr to proceed.

And we have lift off…

One final screen remains, you can view the install log, launch ConfigMgr, or just end the install.

To verify that the site has completed the install successfully at a minimum you should review the ComponentSetup.log in the root of C, the configMgrSetup.log, also located in the root.

If you want to patch using ConfigMgr you will need to download and install WSUS. After you kick off the install do not waste any time trying to sync or configuring WSUS we do this all through the ConfigMgr console.

Select the custom site install to get the alternate ports if you are installing the WSUS server on your ConfigMgr server, as port 80 is already in use.

You should install the full version on the site server or server that you plan to use as your Software Update Point, the admin console only needs to be installed on site servers that will deploy patches but not download the patches directly.

I will tell it store updates locally on my server, make sure you choose a drive with adequate space as you can download more than your average monthly patch Tuesday patches with this, it is a WSUS server.

Skip this…

Now let’s start using ConfigMgr…launch it from your Start ==> All Programs –> Microsoft System Center -> Configuration Manager 2007

First view of the console….

Expand Site Settings and go to Site Systems and either right click your server name and choose

New Roles or highlight it and use the menu on the right panel to choose the same. Fill in the FQDN.

So let’s start by configuring the boundaries. This is under Site Settings, it has its own folder now instead of going to the site properties.

It should have carried over your settings from the previous install so just verify that these settings are here and correct.

Select the roles you want to add, at minimum choose Software Update Point and then click Next.

Let’s move on to configuring the WSUS/SUP and finish this article up.

Move down to Component Configuration still below Site Settings and in display window in the middle of the console select Software Update Point Component, right click on it and select Properties.

Welcome to task sequences…

If you have a proxy between your server and MU then you should enter those settings here. Keep in mind that the settings you enter here will override any settings you have entered into WSUS but if you followed my install you should have cancelled the settings wizard after the WSUS setup.

Make sure you check this box, you can guess what will happen if you don’t…

These ports should be the same that you configured during the WSUS setup, by default it will use http and SSL ports, you can modify these if you need to but they must match the settings in IIS.

Click Next to continue.

On the next screen you will have to tell your SUP to either sync with a local WSUS server or MU directly, you can also choose to not sync if you are using a manual sync method. You can also decide if you want clients to report on WSUS events, this has nothing to do with ConfigMgr reports it is only used for WSUS and will not feed any info into ConfigMgr.

Click Next to continue to the sync schedule screen, you can set the SUP/WSUS server to sync on a custom schedule or simple, just like you would schedule the ITMU sync ad in 2003. I would have mine run every Saturday and the evening of Patch Tuesday. Define your schedule and lets move on to Classifications, click Next when you are done.

Remember my warning about lots of disk space, well here is the list of different types of updates, choose what class of updates you want to pull down and then click Next to decide what products you want to pull down those types of updates for and then click Next again and decide what languages you want to download them in.

After that you should see the Summary screen, review the settings you have made and if you need to go back and make any changes, once you click Next it is going to make the changes you have specified.

And after a short period you should see this…or something similar

And now if you go up to Site Settings, Component Configuration and double click the Software Update Point Component your screen should look like this.

You now have a working site with the ability to deploy patches, once you upgrade your clients that is, but that will have to be another article.

Any questions, corrections, so on, let me know.

Regards,
Anthony

Anthony Clendenen | Solutions Engineer | 1E

http://configmgr.com

© 2007 Anthony Clendenen

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