DISM – the Deployment Imaging Servicing and Management Tool is a new part of Windows 7 that has been created to help you manage (and deploy) images with greater ease. Previous versions of Windows included tools such as:
* ImageX – a tool which allowed you to mount offline images
* Pkgmgr – A device driver and package manager
* PEImg – A WindowsPE Utility to prepare images once edited with pkgmgr
* Intlcfg – An International Settings Configuration Tool
All of the above tools have very specific feature sets, but using these makes modifying and changing the created images very cumbersome. The first problem naturally was which tool to use when. Once you figured this out, you had to go through a series of steps in order to get the image mounted – of which you could only do “offline” – and when completed you had to recompile or re-make the new image you wished to deploy. With DISM, all of these tools become one and even better – you can do certain things to an “online” or live image. What we’re going to do is take a quick look at DISM, get some information about our current installation as well as service it, whilst using it.(
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Although the steps required to deploy an OS using Configuration Manager 2007 are available in many places, I decided to create a simple, concise step by step procedure for OSD deployment using SCCM that will hopefully come in handy if you are trying to use the OSD feature in SCCM for the first time.(
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The Operations Manager 2007 R2 Connectors provide Operations Manager 2007 R2 alert forwarding to remote systems, such as an Enterprise Management System (EMS) or a help desk system. After Operations Manager 2007 R2 forwards an alert to a remote system, the alert data is synchronized throughout the lifetime of the alert. The result of that data synchronization is a robust and seamless systems management environment. Such an environment enables cross-organization support processes to take advantage of the resources and strengths of formerly independent support groups. The ultimate effect is improved enterprise systems health through improved organizational communication. (
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The Connectors are available for download at the following location:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=592e4143-c5c8-4270-9a7a-cd0a31ab3189
The MDT Task Sequences for System Center Configuration Manager 2007 use a clever technique to download and persist the MDT Files package during each phase of the Task Sequence. The Use Toolkit Package step uses the ZTISCCM.wsf script to copy the contents of the package to a WDPackage subfolder of the _SMSTaskSequence folder. The Task Sequencer maintains this folder (the path of which is held in the _SMSTSMDataPath variable) for holding the logs and downloaded package contents. So the WDPackage folder will continue to exist until the next reboot. MDT places the path to the WDPackage folder in the DeployRoot variable.(
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Microsoft officially released System Center Configuration Manager Extensions for SCAP. This free add on to ConfigMgr will consume the SCAP data streams, assess a target system for compliance, and report the results back in SCAP format.(
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Brian Madden: You’ll soon be able to manage XenApp environments via Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager.
Remember that Systems Center is the name for a whole family of products. Citrix XenApp has always had support for System Center “Operations Manager,” which meant that you could view the health of your Citrix servers and get inventories and metrics and stuff. Yesterday’s announcement was about Systems Center “Configuration Manager,”—the product that used to be called SMS—which is used for remotely installing and deploying software to servers and desktops.(
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Management Pack University is a training course aimed at developers working on building management packs for System Center Operations Manager 2007. These training videos walk you through the full process of development of a management pack.
Visit the Management Pack University
Chris Stauffer: I’ve spent the last 3 weeks working on a boot wizard for my OSD deployments. Special thanks goes to Maik Koster for putting up with my stupid questions and to Todd Hemsell for adding his 2 cents whenever needed.
This was the Goal:
Create a wizard that would allow the following:
* Enter computer name
* Select OU for machine to be added to
* Select what image to apply to the system
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Cellfish: So today we published some of the code for the cross platform implementation as
open source. It's the code that implements the providers getting all the things needed for monitoring Solaris, Linux, AIX, HPUX etc. The fact that we were going to release this code as open source has been communicated for a long time but I think it kind of got lost in the whole cross platform message since it is kind of rare that Microsoft releases code as open source. Especially code for products and not just examples and frameworks.
Visit:
System Center OpsMgr X-Plat Providers on Codeplex
The Configuration Manager Sustained Engineering team has re-released a number of Configuration Manager SP1 hotfixes due to a problem with the hotfix installer's ability to detect Windows Server 2008 SP2 and Windows Vista SP2. This will cause Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 hotfixes to fail to install on those operating systems even though they are applicable.a(
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The Operations Manager 2007 R2 technical documentation helps you plan, deploy, operate, and maintain Operations Manager 2007 R2. For information about the specific guides available in the library, see
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/opsmgr/bb498235.aspx.
Some users may need to have reports that can be looked at regularly but they don't want to install the SCOM console on a bunch of machines and have all those connections to the SDK. So what can you do? One way around this is to create reports that can be viewed in IE. Below is an example I recently used to create a Disk Usage report for Exchange Servers that can be run by the Exchange Admins:(
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Microsoft released a new version of ACT, version 5.5. This version changed the database schema which prevents configuring the ACT database from the ACT Connector administrator console. If you upgrade an existing ACT installation to 5.5 which has already been configured in the ACT connector, no additional steps are required.
Using this documented workaround ACT 5.5 is supported by Microsoft with the System Center Configuration Manager 2007 ACT Connector.(
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Full details on the transition and migration path for existing customers on SMSE and new customers moving to SMSD
System Center Server Management Suite Enterprise is versionless and product use rights are determined by the status of System Center Server Management Suite Enterprise Software Assurance coverage. If coverage lapses, access rights under perpetual licenses are determined based on the product use rights in effect prior to the lapse in coverage. (
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Op 24 juli 2009 organiseert de System Center User Group nederland de jaarlijkse System Center ‘Summer Night’. We starten de avond om 17.00 uur met pizza en vangen om 17.30 uur aan met het programma:
17.30 uur – 17.45 uur: SCUG NL, stand van zaken
17.45 uur – 18.45 uur: Windows 7 deployment met SCCM 2007
18.45 uur – 19.45 uur: DPM en Cloud Recovery
19.45 uur – 20.00 uur: Break
20.00 uur – 21.00 uur: SCOM 2007 R2, what’s new
21.00 uur – 22.00 uur: Borrel en afsluiting
Je kunt je kosteloos inschrijven door een email te sturen aan
info@scug.n l met je naam en contactgegevens. De locatie is De Witte Bergen in Eemnes. Hier is een routebeschrijving te vinden:
http://www.hoteldewittebergen.nl/route.aspx
Hopelijk tot de 24e,
System Center User Group Netherlands
| 27 Jul '09 - 22:19 | kenneth van surksum | 
no comments | news source ~ ConfigMgr Support Team Blog 
