Search

Search for words used in entries on this website

Enter the words[s] to search for here:

Sponsors

Tags

Affiliates

Microsoft MVP:

Featured on:

Deploying Windows 7 VL with MAK (Multiple Access Keys) using MDT 2010

While deploying Windows 7 Enterprise VL with MDT 2010, the typical behaviour would be to include the activation key in the customisation wizard used to create a Task Sequence for the deployment of the Windows 7 operating system. By design, the Task Sequence wizard is designed to support retail activation keys, not volume license keys. The difference is subtle, but important to the context of this scenario.(continue at source)

Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager 2007 SP1

The Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Management Pack monitors Standard and Enterprise Edition of Office Communications Server 2007 R2. This release also incorporates the Quality of Experience (QoE) MP which was previously a separate Management Pack. Monitored types are event log entries, performance counters, as well as stateful monitoring of QoE. Note that this version of the Management Pack only monitors Office Communications Server 2007 R2, and cannot be used to monitor Office Communications Server 2007.

Download: Office Communications Server 2007 R2 Management Pack for System Center Operations Manager 2007 SP1

What is new: OpsMgr 2007 R2 - Alert Storm Recognition

Marius Sutara: OpsMgr 2007 R2 Release candidate finally released and can be downloaded from Connect. What is new in this release? PLENTY! Some of you get a glimpse at those features while evaluating Beta, some will see most improvement for the first time … very exiting!

That is the reason why I would like to start small series where I comment on some of the changes or additions. With this post, I would like to mention a design change to suspend alert creation in order to prevent alert storm – yes, we did bring MOM2005 feature (at least for the rule) back!(continue at source)

Service Manager: Incident Management – High Level Overview

Hi I am Ketan Ghelani, Program Manager on the Service Manager Team responsible for Incident and Problem Management. I will write a series of posts on Incident Management. I will show how to map a sample Incident Management Process scenario to the capabilities of Incident Management in Service Manager. Here is the roadmap for the posts.

- High Level Incident Management processes and Incident Management capabilities in Service Manager (This post)
- Describe a sample business scenario case and define the process
- Map the process to the Incident Management Capabilities in Service Manager (This will be probably a series of its own)

The objective of Incident Management Process is to restore normal operations as quickly and cost-effectively as possible with minimal impact on business or the user. MOF and ITIL both provide a framework to define the processes and best practices for Incident Management. MOF refers to it as the Customer Service Service Management Function (SMF). (continue at source)

Creating Report Models for SQL Reporting Services in Configuration Manager 2007 R2

SQL Reporting Services in Configuration Manager 2007 R2 offers a number of advantages over traditional Configuration Manager reporting methods. One of the major advantages of this new feature gives users who may have little knowledge of SQL Server the ability to easily create reports using SQL Server Report Builder. Report builder allows the report author to drag and drop view items from the database to easily create ad-hoc reports. However, before the report author can create reports, you must define the views and objects within these views which will be presented. The items that will be presented to the report author are stored in a report model.(continue at source)

OpsMgr 2007 R2 now at Release Candidate status

Tonight Microsoft announced the availability of the Operations Manger 2007 R2 Release Candidate on Connect (http://connect.microsoft.com). There are a number of enhancements over the beta released in November, including:

* New Power Management MP template (the monitored system must be either Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7)
* Updated branding across all user interfaces, including a new skin
* Improved trace configuration tools to help support issues escalated to Customer Support (if applicable)
* Improved Run As Account Distribution Configuration
* Ability to run inline tasks for non-Microsoft servers
* Support for upgrade from Beta deployments to the Release Candidate
* New and updated documentation, including the Usage Guide, Design Guide, Deployment Guide, Upgrade Guide, Security Guide, and Operations Guide

The RC should be upgradeable to the RTM version once that is available, but since this is a test version, do not run it in a production environment unless you have made special arrangements with Microsoft.

SCVMM 2008 Cmdlet Ref

Tony Soper: SCVMM 2008 Cmdlet Reference is now available in the download center, and contains all the Help topics for the VMM 2008 cmdlets in one handy DL. Everything you can do using the VMM Administrator Console to administer your Virtual Machine Manager environment, you can also script using the cmdlets in the Windows PowerShell - Virtual Machine Manager command shell, which is an administrator-focused command-line shell.

This topic contains sample commands that you can use to get Help in the Windows PowerShell – Virtual Machine Manager command shell or in Windows PowerShell.: Using Cmdlet Help

Microsoft Support Model Changing for System Center Products

Beginning on Monday, March 30, 2009, support for Microsoft's Premier customers on System Center products will move from a live phone queue to callback. This applies to the Systems Management Server/Configuration Manager (SMS/ConfigMgr) and the Operations Manager (MOM/SCOM) product lines and includes all severities and Premier offerings. Normal response goals for support on these products have not changed, and support will continue to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This will bring these products in-line with all other support offerings and products in the System Center family of products. (continue at source)

Scom2007: Toolbox Recommendation - Mobile Admin 4.2

Walter Chomak: One of the biggest paradigm shifts in operations management was the move from a server-centric / reactive strategies to service-centric / proactive monitoring solutions such as those OpsMgr 2007 clearly provides. One of the challenges I have faced is when I am away from the Operations Console. Although Notifications can deliver a wealth of information to my mobile device…they are reactive…..triggered by an event, so I am back again in reactive mode and not scrambling for operations console access. With the recent release of Mobile Admin 4.2, you will never have to take your finger of the the pulse of your enterprise infrastructure.(continue at source)

Dell OpsMgr Management Pack Version 3.1.1

An updated Dell MP was released this past Friday.

Some notes:

Version A00 changes:
- Dell Server and Printer Management Pack (Dell.Connections.001.mp) code was modified with fixes for discovery of Storage Controllers with Server Administrator version 5.5, and a known defect with health of Virtual Disks, where in some scenarios health of Virtual Disks were not shown correctly.
- The executable 'DellBMCLog.exe' was modified to include improved error handling.
- The Storage Array Management Pack (Dell.Connections.StorageArray.mp) and the executable 'dellabb.exe' was modified to add support for MD Storage Arrays (MD3000/MD3000i), both generation 1 with firmware version 06.xx.xx.xx as well as generation 2 with firmware version 07.xx.xx.xx.

Download: Dell OpsMgr 2007 Management Pack Version 3.1.1

How to Move Collections in ConfigMgr

One of the little aspects of working in the ConfigMgr console that I don’t like is the number of builtin collections that are all at the top level of the collections node (“All Systems”, etc). I don’t like that they take up so much room at the top of the list (since they all start with the word “all”) and causes me to need to scroll/search in order to find the collections that I have created. I would prefer to have them in a folder (which doesn’t exist in the Collections area because of the way security works in collections). You will also note when right-clicking a collection, that there is not a “move” option. So…how do you do it?(continue at source)

How-to: Integrate a Live Maps view in the OpsMgr Web Console

All custom views you create with Savision Live Maps for Operations Manager 2007 can be automatically viewed using the OpsMgr Operations Console and the Live Maps Web Console. The views will not automatically appear in the OpsMgr Web Console. (continue at source)

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit Wizard Editor

The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit Wizard Editor (WizardEditor.exe) is a free open source program hosted on CodePlex .

WizardEditor is used to edit the XML definition files that define the dialogs that Wizard.hta displays and under what conditions they are displayed. Using the WizardEditor it is possible to build a custom Front End to interact with humans in your OS Deployment. The wizards it creates can be used in lite touch or with a TS in ConfigMgr/SCCM/CM. In this tutorial we will create a simple wizard that will run prior to our TS starting when booting to boot media in an SCCM OSD Deployment.

Part 1 : Introduction
Part 2 : Global Settings and Custom Initialization and Validation scripts.
Part 3 : Panes can be a pain, or how to bring external data into your wizard.
Part 4 : What my face looked like when I first tried to decipher the HTML in the HTML Tab!

MDT: Adding tools to Windows PE in an mixed x86 x64 environment

When creating both x86 and x64 Windows PE images, provide both x86 and x64 version of any tools that will be used. MDT 2008 provides a method to add additional file to the Windows PE image using the Extras folder which is configured on the Windows PE tab of the deployment point properties dialog. (continue at source)

Free version of Live Maps

Savision B.V., the leader in Microsoft® System Center Operations Manager visualization, today announced the availability of a free version of Live Maps for Microsoft Operations Manager 2007. Microsoft Operations Manager administrators everywhere can now benefit from the extraordinary visualization capabilities of Live Maps v3. The free version is fully functional and allows IT organizations to create three maps of any type.(continue at source)

How-to: Integrate Live Maps with Microsoft SharePoint

Savision Live Maps for Operations Manager 2007 is the platform to create customized state views on top of OpsMgr. These views can be shared with different groups within your organisation using the Live Maps web console. The Live Maps web views can also be easily integrated in a SharePoint portal.

In this article I will explain how you can integrate a Live Maps web view in a SharePoint portal.(continue at source)

ConfigMgr: Out of Band Management Overview

Out of Band (OOB) Management is gradually becoming one of the mainstream IT management technologies. This blog series focuses on introduction and discussion around the Out of Band Management feature in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 to help you better understand and use this feature. This series of blog articles will cover overview, usage and troubleshooting, etc.(continue at source)

Get SMS/SCCM Information from Active Directory

Mike Koster: During Deployments (also in other situations but this Blog is more about Deployments) you sometimes need to gather some information about the existing SMS/SCCM Infrastructure. Mainly things like the SiteCode for a specific computer or even more important the assignedSiteCode (From the assigned Primary Site) and the siteServers responsible for these sites.

How do we get this information? The easiest way is probably hardcoding this information somewhere. We could store it in the cs.ini if using MDT or directly in the scripts doing the SMS/SCCM Parts of our deployment. But hardcoding is never a really good solution if it comes to dynamic and/or large environments. A second way comes with SMS/SCCM out-of-the-box. The Server Locator Point (SLP). A Role you can add to any of your SCCM Server and which will be able to return a lot of information about your SCCM Infrastructure. But you need to know the SLP-Server. And it is not necessarily installed in every infrastructure. Especially if you extended the Active Directory Schema and published the site information it's not required.(continue at source)

Moving computers in Active Directory using a webservice

Maik Koster: If you are using GPOs in your Active Directory Environment you can come into a situation during your deployments, where the settings of a GPO might have impacts on the deployment process. To avoid this and be able to have full control on what happens during the deployment, one way to solve this problem is to have a specific OU which blocks all GPOs. I refer to this as staging OU. But this raises two other problems.

When we add a new computer it's quite easy to have it added to a specific OU. But what happens with existing computer accounts if you are doing a reimage? Sure you could delete the computer object first and have it recreated. But often you have specific settings on some computers, they are member of some security groups etc. and you probably want to preserve this information. In this case you need to be able to re-use the former computer account. So we need to move the computer from the existing OU to the staging OU.(continue at source)

Relationships in OpsMgr 2007, Part 1

Vin DiPippo: Of the two EntityTypes in the OpsMgr 2007 schema, ClassTypes and RelationshipTypes, the latter seems to be a straight-forward concept, but can have interesting ramifications in its application. Because of this, I decided to investigate them more fully, which is the subject of this series. In this first part, I will discuss the declaration of relationship types in a management pack and investigate some of the ramifications and restrictions related to the various base classes. In subsequent parts, I will investigate how relationships are involved in OpsMgr's facilities and some nuances that can help explain some of OpsMgr's less obvious behavior.(continue at source)

Troubleshooting Client Deployment Issues – Running Ccmsetup as a Service

Ben Yim: A common client deployment issue that I’ve seen over the years involves running ccmsetup as a service. In most cases running ccmsetup as a service should be fine. However, there are scenarios where doing so will have some unintended consequences, which will in turn cause client deployment failures. This post will go over some of the consequences of running ccmsetup as a service and how this can cause client deployment failures.(continue at source)

Intro to DPM 2007-SP1

In the coming weeks, we will be discussing the new features of DPM 2007 SP1 to enough depth that you can implement them into a new or existing environment. We will also be covering some of the basics on how to install and configure, at a very basic level, the applications that DPM will be protecting.

This information is targeted towards DPM administrators who have little-to-no experience with the technologies that DPM SP1 provides support for such as SQL Database Mirroring, Exchange SCR, Hyper-V, and SharePoint Search index servers.(continue at source)

System Center Integration Framework

Robert Hearn, Senior Program Manager at Microsoft has created the System Center Integration Framework project at Codeplex.

The project contains a set of utility methods for helping you integrate with System Center products. What is available today is assistance with integrating with System Center Configuration Manager, and over time we will build out this framework to include all of the different System Center products. Our goal is to grow everyone's awareness of the integration capabilities of System Center and foster integration by sharing as much information as possible, including lots of sample code and full-blown integrations.

Visit the System Center Integration Framework project on Codeplex

Clarifying: DNS Publishing in Configuration Manager

DNS publishing was introduced in Configuration Manager 2007, and perhaps because of the vagueness in the term ("to publish" simply means to make available), we see a number of customer questions and confusions about this option - what it is and when it should be used. This post addresses the commonly asked questions and confusions that we've seen around this option.

(continue at source)

OpsMgr: What’s the diff? Or – how to see exactly what is new with an updated MP

Kevin Holman: Back in MOM 2005…. we had some really cool reskit tools to look at differences in Management Packs. In the MOM 2005 reskit, there was a tool called MP2XML.exe which would take an AKM MP, and convert it to XML. Then, you could run another reskit tool, MPDiff.exe, which could graphically show you all the rules, scripts, providers, groups, attributes, etc… that had changed between the two MP versions. This was great – because we could really get a solid idea of what has changed in a MP update, down to the nuts and bolts. This is necessary – as a first step in understanding what's new, and making sure it wont break anything that we depend on.

OpsMgr: Management pack for Hyper-v beta

A beta version of the Management Pack to monitor different versions of Hyper-V in System Center Operations Manager 2007 is available on connect.

This version is designed to function with:

* System Center Operations Manager 2007
* System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2

It aims to manage the following versions:

* Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition (Full installation with Hyper-V role enabled)
* Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition (Full installation with Hyper-V role enabled)
* Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Edition (full installation with Hyper-V role enabled)

The installation of core support is planned for the time of its availability via the Internet.
Support for Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 / Hyper-V Server R2 is not yet available.

To request an invitation to access this beta, you can send a message to the following address:MPCC@microsoft.com

New Training Resources on System Center Configuration Manager

If you are in the Microsoft Partner program you have the ability to follow so called Partner Learning Courses, on the System Center Configuration Manager Training Resources website of Microsoft Canada the following training is available:

Labcast: Managing Windows, Sharepoint and Exchange Server with Server Management Suite Enterprise (SMSE)
The SMSE Labcast is a dynamic set of actual customer scenarios which walk you through a series of “Real World” data center management situations including disaster recovery, and optimizing Windows, SharePoint  and Exchange Server in the Data Center. The course consists of virtual lecture with specific hands on labs (HOL) which guide the student through the steps required to both successfully configure and use System Center Operations Manager 2007 (OpsMgr), System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (ConfigMgr), System Center Data Protection Manager 2007 (DPM) and System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) in conjunction with core data center applications such as Microsoft Windows Server 2008, SharePoint Server 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 running on the Microsoft Hyper-V platform.

Click here for more Implementer Training Resources on System Center Configuration Manager

Click here for Sales Training Resources on System Center Configuration Manager

ConfigMgr 2007 R2 Reporting Service - Report Models

One topic that frequently surfaces for ConfigMgr 2007 R2 Reporting Service is the lack of report models. There are two that ship with the core product. ConfigMgr administrators may want to create additional models depending on need.

Rob Stack (Microsoft) working with the documentation team has created a really nice series of step-by-step guides on this topic:

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Report Model in SQL Reporting Services - Simple
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc678428.aspx
Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Report Model in SQL Reporting Services - Advanced
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd504762.aspx
Step-by-Step Guide to Deploying a Report Model to Configuration Manager
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd504761.aspx

How to reset / re-run the Feature Configuration Wizard in Essentials 2007

Question: Once I’ve run the Feature Configuration Wizard in Essentials and selected Local Policy, how can I reverse my decision and switch to Active Directory Group Policies applied at the domain level?

The policy type can be selected only when the Feature Configuration wizard is run for the first time, so this poses a bit of a problem. Once you’ve made the decision, it’s done. After this, the selection will be unavailable next time the wizard is run.

However, there is a workaround(continue at source)

SCVMM 2008 and VMware management - we must be doing something right...

Rakesh Malhotra:It has come to my attention that some of our competitors are making various claims about SCVMM 2008 and VMware ESX management capabilities. I guess we have officially crashed the party but I thought I’d put together a blog post to address some of these claims.(continue at source)

Installation Failure of OEM Deployment Tools

Steve Rachui: OEMs (currently Dell and IBM) provide deployment packs that plug into the OSD feature of SCCM to help deploy operating systems to their specific hardware. These deployment packs provide some cool features - one of which is the ability to provision servers with a variety of system requirements (BIOS, Hard Disk structure, RAID, etc.). I was working an issue recently trying to get one of these toolkits installed and thought it would be worth sharing here.(continue at source)

Boot from VHD and WDS

Richard Trusson:Windows Server 2008 R2 contains an enhanced version of the WDS server. I will talk about some of the other enhancements in a later post – today I will touch on the VHD enhancements. WDS now supports the ability to deploy a VHD file to target computers and configure them to boot from it.


(continue at source)

Microsoft System Center Essentials 2007 SP1 VHD

System Center Essentials 2007 SP1 is a new management solution specifically designed for IT professionals working in midsize businesses who often face IT challenges similar to those of larger enterprises—troubleshooting user problems, automating management tasks, managing multiple systems, and diagnosing and resolving IT problems. And when you download the 90-day trial software, you're automatically registered to receive valuable resources delivered at strategic intervals throughout the software evaluation period.

Download the Microsoft System Center Essentials 2007 SP1 VHD

Speed up performance on the Config Mgr. 2007 MMC console

Kent Agerlund : The MMC 3.0 might not be the fastest console in the world so here are a few little tricks that might speed up the performance.

(continue at source)

OpsMgr: Logfile Check on Linux

Anders Bengtsson: In Operations Manager 2007 R2 we have the possibility to monitor Linux and UNIX machines. There are among with other new features two new management pack templates:

* Unix/Linux LogFile (monitor a logfile for a specified entry)
* Unix/Linux Service (monitor a service with a standalone process)

In this post I will show some ideas how to monitor file size on a linux machine. File size monitoring is not a default feature in R2, not on Windows or on Linux machines. On Windows machines I use a two state monitor and a script, describe in this post.(continue at source)

SCVMM 2008 R2 Beta registration open

Mark Rhodes: Beta registration for System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 was released just today!

The registration page also lists some of the features of SCVMM 2008 R2, which will tie in pretty heavily with the new Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008 R2

Visit connect to register for the SCVMM 2008 R2

Using SiteName when deploying gateways to help manage alerts

When deploying the Operations Manager gateway role you can tag the gateway with a Site name. Any alerts coming from an agent reporting to this gateway will now have it's "Site" property populated with the site name you configured when deploying the gateway. This can be really handy for building specific alert views and sending notifications. (continue at source)

Migrating from Windows XP to Windows 7 Beta with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Beta

There's been a lot of press about how there isn't a an upgrade path from Windows XP to Windows 7. In this video, Jeremy walked me through using the latest beta of the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, specificallly the User State Migration Tool, to transfer the user settings and files from a Windowx XP installation to a new install of Windows 7 on the same PC.

View: Migrating from Windows XP to Windows 7 Beta with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Beta

Past, Present, and Future of Configuration Manager: Interview with Ken Pan

Ken Pan is the driving force behind the System Center Configuration Manager team. As the Principal Product Unit Manager, he is responsible for all engineering and product development functions associated with the product.

In December 2008, on one of his frequent trips to the Configuration Manager R&D team in Shanghai, we took the opportunity to chat with Ken about the past, present, and future of Configuration Manager.(continue at source)

Automating IIS 7 Installation to Support Configuration Manager 2007

Jeff Gilbert: If you've ever installed, or even thought about installing, a Configuration Manager site, or site system requiring IIS on a Windows Server 2008 computer then you've probably had a look at the How to Configure Windows Server 2008 for Site Systems help topic in the Configuration Manager 2007 Documentation Library and then spent some time installing and manually configuring IIS 7, then installing WebDAV for IIS 7, and then spent some more time configuring WebDAV afterwards. If you only have to do this one or two times it's not too big of a deal, but because I'm constantly installing Configuration Manager lab machines on Windows Server 2008, going through the motions of installing and configuring IIS 7 can get repetitive. Not to mention that I always seem to leave out a bit of the configuration that sends me back to installing a missing feature later. After about the thousandth time configuring IIS 7 manually, I thought to myself "there's got to be a way to script this and save some time". If you've had the same thought then this post is for you. After some looking around, I couldn't find the steps to install and configure IIS 7 to support Configuration Manager installations anywhere so I decided to just figure it out for myself.(continue at source)

Configuration Manager 2007 Help File Update Wizard

The System Center Configuration Manager 2007 User Assistance team has created the Configuration Manager 2007 Help File Update Wizard, which can be used to update the help files associated with Configuration Manager 2007 to the December 2008 version of the Configuration Manager 2007 documentation library.

Download the Configuration Manager 2007 Help File Update Wizard

ConfigMgr 2007: AMT/vPRO - Useful Links for Initial Planning and Deployment

Out of band management feature support in Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 provides powerful management control for computers that have the Intel vPro chip set and Intel Active Management Technology (Intel AMT) firmware versions 3.2.1 or later.

(continue at source)

Configuration Manager 2007 supported SQL Versions

As part of the planning considerations for Configuration Manager 2007 (ConfigMgr for short) deployment, we need to determine which version of SQL server will be used to host the site database. Before the release of SQL Server 2008 and later SQL Server 2005 SP3, the only SQL Server version supported to host the ConfigMgr site database was SQL Server 2005 SP2.

With the release of SQL Server 2008, the SQL support scenarios became a little complex. Hopefully, this post will clear things up and help you to figure out the right deployment or upgrade strategy.(continue at source)

ConfigMgr MP Policy Checker

Vin Depippo: When client policy is created in ConfigMgr, it is distributed to clients via Management Points. Client policy can be anything from client agent settings, site-wide settings that affect client activity (such as communication ports), and, most commonly, advertisements. The mechanics that happen behind-the-scenes to get the policy to the client is, generally, as follows:

* The policy is created at the server, either by an SDK/Scripting application or the console.
* The policy in the database is compared against the site assignments, collection assignments, etc., to create effective policy assignments (i.e. which policy is applicable to which clients).
* The policy and assignments are replicated down to all child sites and MPs.
* When clients check for new or updated policy, they receive it in the form of an HTTP data pull from the MP.
* The HTTP payload is an XML document that wraps MOF data.
* The MOF information is unwrapped and becomes new or updated instances of ConfigMgr WMI classes.
* The ConfigMgr client's activities are essentially driven by instances of those WMI classes.

I have written a tool that will allow you to select a policy and then check that policy via HTTP pulls to all of the MPs. (continue at source)

Deploying Win 7 to Boot From VHD with MDT 2010

One of the more difficult scenarios that customers have found in the past is multi-booting a new OS. The effort needed to re-partition the drive to allow for the new OS is sometimes to great. One new solution that is gaining ground in deployment is Boot From VHD. This allows you to take a VHD file with Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2 and boot your machine to it. This means that you can take advantage of the physical hardware of your machine while not having to repartition your drive for Win 7 and keep your original OS intact. More information on how to Boot From VHD can be found here http://edge.technet.com/Media/Windows-7-Boot-from-VHD/ .(continue at source)

Using Internet-Only Client Management on the Intranet

Carol Bailey: When you read the product documentation for using Internet-based client management in Configuration Manager 2007, you will see in the overview information that there are three different management states that a Configuration Manager client can be in when assigned to a site that's configured for Internet-based client management:

* intranet-only
* Internet-only
* Internet or intranet

(continue at source)

Deployment of ConfigMgr Admin Console with MDT and R2 Chained

Stuart James explaines how to create a package for the SCCM admin console and also chain the install of MDT and R2.(continue at source)

HP Server Updates Catalog for SCCM 2007 - Released!

Hewlett-Packard Server Updates Catalog for System Center Configuration Manager 2007 enables IT administrators to use Microsoft Systems Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) RTM, SP1, or R2 to automatically manage and distribute HP ProLiant server system software, firmware, and complete support packs. With the HP Catalog, customers can manage HP server inventory and software updates with the same ease they use to manage operating system updates.

Customers using SCCM will benefit from the integration of the HP server software catalog within the SCCM management structure. The HP Catalog allows remote scanning of HP server software configurations and reporting of the results through the SCCM console. The catalog also enables management and distribution of complete Support Packs or individual components (drivers, ROM, and software agents).

Download the HP Server Updates Catalog for SCCM 2007

Mapping ITIL/MOF Change Management process to the features of the Systems Center Service Manager Part 2

Bill Anderson: In my last blog post, I covered the first process in the MOF Change and Configuration SMF called “Baseline the configuration”. Today, I’ll pick-up where I left off and cover the next process, “Initiating the Change.”

(continue at source)

SMS and SCCM Patch management – An automated security update rollback process

Sam Erskine: SMS and SCCM give us the ability to build a process for full automated patch deployment. A healthy site with healthy clients generally leads to a “smooth” automated patch deployment process.

One of the first challenges I faced as an SMS/SCCM administrator, was answering the change management question “what is the rollback process for patch deployment?” The only answer available is manual rollback (all hands on deck). This presents a major challenge if you do not have resources readily available during an emergency rollback scenario. Why not use your automated patch deployment tool to address this challenge.

In this article, I provide a method for rolling back security patches in line with Microsoft best practices. This process only applies to patches deployed to windows server 2003, Windows XP and below operating systems. I am working on updating the process for Vista and Windows Server 2008.(continue at source)

Troubleshooting Task Sequences in System Center Configuration Manager

This article will give some guidance on how to start troubleshooting Task Sequences in System Center Configuration Manager 2007.

Task sequences provide the mechanism for performing multiple steps or tasks on a client computer at the command-line level without requiring user intervention. (more)

MDT 2010 Beta 1: Using MDT to Prepare, Install and Capture customized Windows 7 Images

Augusto Alvarez explains how to add Windows 7 to MDT 2010 Beta 1, include applications (Office 2007) to be deployed within the operating system to generate a reference image. And finally capture this reference image (in a single .wim file) and make it available for a massive deployment with MDT 2010 Beta 1.

Part 1: Prepare
Part 2: Install
Part 3: Capture

SCUP Screencast – Finding, Managing & Importing Catalogs

Jason Lewis has created 2 screencasts on System Center Updates Publisher.

System Center Updates Publisher is a stand-alone tool that enables independent software vendors or line-of-business application developers to import software update catalogs, create and modify software update definitions, export update definitions to catalogs, and publish software updates information to a configured update server. By using updates Publisher to define software updates and publish them to the update server, administrators can begin detecting and deploying published updates to client and server computers in their organization.

Screencast 1: Installation
Screencast 2: Finding, Managing & Importing Catalogs

Verify Services of System Center Operations Manager Are Running

John Gilham: What if OpsMgr is in a state where it is running but not working properly? Maybe your RMS is gray or the notification and alerting systems are down. How do you detect this condition so someone can take action to resolve it? Monitoring the console all day isn't very efficient. This is where monitoring the monitoring solution is required. (continue at source)

Requesting an AMT Provisioning Certificate with Windows Server 2008 CA

Carol Bailey: With the December documentation update for the Configuration Manager library, we posted a new step-by-step guide for out of band management, to help customers deploy the PKI certificates with a Windows Server 2008 CA (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd252737.aspx).  One of the main differences with this guide from the equivalent step-by-step that used a Windows Server 2003 CA was that it didn't have a procedure for requesting an AMT provisioning certificate from an external (public) CA.  In the Windows Server 2003 CA step-by-step, we said follow any instructions provided by the CA company; otherwise use the Web enrollment procedure to create a certificate request file.(continue at source)

Open Beta for MOF Companion Guides

The Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) team is extending the MOF 4.0 core content with a new series of MOF Companion Guides for the Plan Phase. We're pleased to announce the beta of the first two guides, Planning for Virtualization and Planning for Software-plus-Services<. Visit the Connect site to join the beta.

These companion guides apply MOF to specific scenarios and challenges faced by IT professionals. The guides will walk you through the research and planning processes of implementing virtualization or software-plus-services strategies. They enable the reader to quickly determine which strategies are right for their business, which offerings make sense for their needs, how to select a service provider, and how to best prepare for implementation. Ultimately, the decision-making processes outlined in these guides will help move your business toward operating more efficiently.

Open Beta for MOF Companion Guides- Now Available for Download

How to integrate custom SRS Reports in SCCM

Daniele Grandini: In a recent SCCM deployment I’ve been asked to produce some custom reporting. These are the kind of reports it’s not easy to develop with the standard SCCM reports (ASP based) and I always used SQL reporting Services (SRS) to give some extra value. This time, with SCCM SP1, I decided these reports needed to be integrated in the standard view in the admin console. Given the complexity of the reports I couldn’t use the SCCM Wizard. Initially I though this was going to be an easy job, it turned out to be pretty challenging.(continue at source)

Setting Up System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM)

Daniel Petri: Although Hyper-V Manager works well for managing virtual servers in smaller environments, it is definitely not an enterprise class solution. Fortunately, Microsoft makes a much more comprehensive virtual machine management product called System Center Virtual Machine Manager. In this article, I will show you how to install and configure this product.(continue at source)

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 beta 2 features

We-Blog: Yesterday I attended a MS Livemeeting in which Michael Niehaus and Tim Mintner showed all the new features MDT 2010 beta 2 will contain.
Here’s a summary of what I believe are the most interesting changes and new features. (continue at source)

Announcing the System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2 TAP

Microsoft is currently building the update to System Center Configuration Manager 2007 (ConfigMgr07) titled Service Pack 2. The ConfgMgr Technology Adoption Program (TAP) team is pleased to announce that we are now soliciting participation in the System Center Configuration Manager Service Pack 2 Product validation program. (more)

White Paper: SCCM2007: benefits and market differentiators of the world’s leading configuration management product

System Center Configuration Manager comprehensively assesses, deploys, and updates servers, client computers, and devices—across physical, virtual, distributed, and mobile environments of all sizes. By bringing both operational and administrative simplicity to the administrator, Configuration Manager delivers a scalable management solution capable for any sized organization. Through resource optimization, organizations of just a few hundred, or several hundred thousand can benefit from the
capabilities offered in Configuration Manager SP1 and R2. As organizations grow to meet the demands of the increasingly mobile worker, tighter security controls and reductions in both budget and resources, System Center provides a robust scalable architecture to answers today’s most challenging requirements.

System Center Configuration Manager 2007: benefits and market differentiators of the world's leading configuration management product