Deployment | Ward Vissers

Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals Jump Start

The “Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals” Jump Start is specially tailored for VMware and Microsoft virtualization technology pros. This cutting-edge course features expert instruction and real-world demonstrations of Hyper-V, many components of the System Center Suite, including VMM 2012, and a myriad of VDI solutions. This course is designed for Data Center Managers, IT Professionals, IT Decision Makers, Network Administrators, Storage/Infrastructure Administrators & Architects. Expert IT infrastructure consultant, Corey Hynes, and Microsoft Technical Evangelist, Symon Perriman, leveraged an engaging "team teaching" approach which makes the class as entertaining as it is educational Smile

Download all the Video’s:
Video: WMV | WMV (ZIP) | PSP
Audio: WMA | MP3

Now only finding some spare time to watch’s these video’s Winking smile

Issue with MDT 2010 Update 1 and Windows AIK for Windows 7 SP1

With the release of the Windows AIK for Windows 7 SP1 supplement (see Windows AIK for Windows 7 SP1 Released for details), there is a new version 3.1 version of Windows PE available. If you plan to install this update, you need to be aware of an issue when using this with MDT 2010 Update 1.

With MDT 2010, Deployment Workbench will look for a “boot.wim” file from one of the imported operating systems that has the same build number as Windows AIK (e.g. “boot.wim” from a Windows 7 RC, build 7100, operating system to go with the Windows AIK for Windows 7 RC). If it finds a match, it will use that WIM instead. Why do we do this? Because the “boot.wim” contains the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE), a component that isn’t available in Windows AIK.

So let’s get a little more specific. First, some background details:

The build number for the RTM version of Windows 7 is 6.1.7600.16385.
The build number for Windows AIK for Windows 7, released with Windows 7 RTM, is also 6.1.7600.16385. This is stored in the registry.
The build number for Windows 7 SP1 is 6.1.7601.17514.
The build number for the files included in the Windows 7 AIK for Windows 7 SP1 supplement, including Windows PE 3.1 and all the Windows PE feature packs, is also 6.1.7601.17514. But since this supplement is installed by replacing files in the Windows AIK installation directory using XCOPY, the registry isn’t updated so MDT still thinks the Windows 7 RTM version (6.1.7600.16385) of Windows AIK is installed.

Now, let’s assume that you have Windows 7 RTM x86 installation files present in your deployment share, and you haven’t installed the Windows 7 AIK for Windows 7 SP1 supplement. MDT’s processing when creating a boot image will look like this:

Is there a boot.wim available with the same version number as Windows AIK (6.1.7600.16385 = 6.1.7600.13685)? Yes, copy it to a temporary folder and mount it.
Inject the required Windows PE optional components from the Windows AIK installation directory into this mounted boot image.
Inject the needed MDT scripts.
Commit the changes to the WIM file and copy it to the deployment share.

Now, install the Windows 7 AIK for Windows 7 SP1 supplement and update the deployment share:

Is there a boot.wim available with the same version number as Windows AIK (6.1.7600.16385 = 6.1.7600.13685)? Yes (because MDT doesn’t know that Windows AIK has been updated, the registry still says it is version 6.1.7600.16385), copy it to a temporary folder and mount it.
Try to Inject the required Windows PE feature packs from the Windows AIK installation directory into this mounted boot image. All fail, because they are for Windows PE 3.1 and won’t work with the Windows PE 3.0 boot image copied from the Windows 7 RTM files.
Stop.

The actual error will look something like this (repeated for each Windows PE feature pack):

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 6.1.7600.16385
Image Version: 6.1.7600.16385
Processing 1 of 1 – Adding package WinPE-HTA-Package~31bf3856ad364e35~x86~~6.1.7601.17514
Error: 0x800f081e
The specified package is not applicable to this image.
The DISM log file can be found at C:\Windows\Logs\DISM\dism.log
Exit code = –2146498530
DISM /Add-Package failed for component C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\winpe-hta.cab, rc = -2146498530.

Solution:

Modify the Settings.xml file in the deployment share’s “Control” folder to tell MDT to never use the boot.wim. The settings look like this:

<Boot.x86.UseBootWim>True</Boot.x86.UseBootWim>
<Boot.x64.UseBootWim>True</Boot.x64.UseBootWim>

They should be changed to instead say:

<Boot.x86.UseBootWim>False</Boot.x86.UseBootWim>
<Boot.x64.UseBootWim>False</Boot.x64.UseBootWim>

As a result of this change, MDT will no longer use the boot.wim from the Windows 7 RTM installation files. Instead, it will always use the winpe.wim from Windows AIK. And since the Windows PE feature packs in Windows AIK should always match the winpe.wim in Windows AIK, this will always work.

Note that this will never be an issue with MDT-generated boot images used with ConfigMgr 2007, as MDT will always use the winpe.wim from Windows AIK when generating these. (ConfigMgr 2007 doesn’t yet support Windows PE 3.1, so don’t install the Windows AIK for Windows 7 SP1 supplement yet if you are using ConfigMgr.)

More info check: Issue with MDT 2010 Update 1 and Windows AIK for Windows 7 SP1 Supplement

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 Beta Evaluation

System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 delivers industry leading fabric managment, virtual machine management and services deployment in private cloud environments. Virtual Machine Manager 2012 offers key new features that include hypervisor creation and management, network management, storage management, private cloud creation, self-service usage and service creation. It features deep investments in server application virtualization, service design and service modeling all of which can be used to efficiently offer an on-premises private cloud.

Feature Summary

Fabric Management
- Hyper-V and Cluster Lifecycle Management – Deploy Hyper-V to bare metal server, create Hyper-V clusters, orchestrate patching of a Hyper-V Cluster
- Third Party Virtualization Platforms – Add and Manage Citrix XenServer and VMware ESX Hosts and Clusters
- Network Management – Manage IP Address Pools, MAC Address Pools and Load Balancers
- Storage Management – Classify storage, Manage Storage Pools and LUNs
Resource Optimization
- Dynamic Optimization – proactively balance the load of VMs across a cluster
- Power Optimization – schedule power savings to use the right number of hosts to run your workloads – power the rest off until they are needed
- PRO – integrate with System Center Operations Manager to respond to application-level performance monitors
Cloud Management
- Abstract server, network and storage resources into private clouds
- Delegate access to private clouds with control of capacity, capabilities and user quotas
- Enable self-service usage for application administrator to author, deploy, manage and decommission applications in the private cloud
Service Lifecycle Management
- Define service templates to create sets of connected virtual machines, os images and applica tion packages
- Compose operating system images and applications during service deployment
- Scale out the number of virtual machines in a service
- Service performance and health monitoring integrated with System Center Operations Manager
- Decouple OS image and application updates through image-based servicing
- Leverage powerful application virtualization technologies such as Server App-V

System Requirements

Supported Operating Systems:Windows 7 Enterprise;Windows 7 Professional;Windows 7 Ultimate;Windows Server 2008 R2;Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter;Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise
- Windows Server 2008 R2 (full installation) Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter x64
- Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise, Ultimate x32, x64
- Windows Remote Management (WinRM) 2.0
- Windows PowerShell 2.0
- Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
- Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Windows 7
- SQL Server 2008 or SQL Server 2008 R2 Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter
- Windows Deployment Services (WDS) – (Version on Windows Server 2008 R2)
- Windows Software Update Services (WSUS) 3.0 SP2 64bit

Download System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 Beta Evaluation HERE

Concern: Is having Outlook 2003 clients going to prevent me from deploying Exchange 2010

OVERALL STATUS: No, having Oulook 2003 clients is not a deployment blocker. However, you need to understand the following sections and make configuration changes as applicable.

Back since November 9th, 2009 where Exchange Server 2010 released to manufacturing (RTM), there have been a growing concern around whether enterprises are prevented from upgrading or migrating their current Exchange 2003 or Exchange 2007 based messaging infrastructure to Exchange 2010, if Outlook 2003 clients is used within the organization.

But in this article includes are a few additional concerns about Exchange 2010 and Outlook 2003

Exchange 2010 lack support for UDP Notifications

Exchange 2010 Exchange Server name appears as Instance – <GUID>

Exchange 2010 & Outlook 2003 Offline Address Book (OAB)

Exchange 2010 RPC over HTTP Connectivity

Exchange 2010 Opening multiple shared calendars & additional mailboxes

Exchange 2010 RPC Encryption Requirement

Exchange 2010 Public Folder Database requirement

Special Thanks to Henrik Walther

NTFS Chkdsk Best Practices and Performance

Claus Joergensen, one of the founding fathers of Windows Storage Server, had a great post today about a new white paper, available here, discussing the best practices and guidance for sizing NTFS volumes. The paper also has details on self-healing NTFS and Chkdsk execution times on Windows Server 2008 R2.

When planning Windows file server deployments, we are often asked questions such as “How large can I make my volumes?” or “How long will it take to repair a volume?”. This white paper helps answer these questions.

Table of Contents:

Self-Healing and Chkdsk
How to run Chkdsk
Chkdsk Exit Codes
Improving General Availability of the Server
Chkdsk performance on Windows Server 2008 R2
Block Caching Improvements in Windows Server 2008 R2
Effect of Volume Size on execution time of Chkdsk
Effect of Number of files and Different OS versions on execution time of Chkdsk
Effect of Physical Memory at different Number of files on execution time
Effect of short file names on Chkdsk execution time
Effect of Enabling/Disabling short file names
Conclusion
Call to Action
Resources

If you are planning a Windows file server deployment or is looking to upgrade an existing Windows file server deployment to Windows Server 2008 R2, you should consult the white paper. It outlines how with Windows Server 2008 R2, NTFS can scale to easily support 15 TB file systems with 10 million files! Even with hundreds of millions of files the Chkdsk execution times are really fast. My favorite statistic is that a volume with 300 million files is able to Chkdsk in about 6 hours, that is so much faster than the old days.

SOURCE: http://blogs.technet.com/b/storageserver/archive/2011/02/23/guidance-for-sizing-ntfs-volumes.aspx

Deploy office 2010 and a previous office version together on one PC with MDT 2010

Deploy office 2010 and a previous office version together on one PC with MDT 2010. Then you need to do the following things

Needed.
– Office 2010 ISO
– Office 2010 Administrative Template files (ADM, ADMX/ADML) and Office Customization Tool

1. Make sure you have a working Office 2007 deployment. Check this How to deploy Office 2007 with MDT

2. Extract the Office 2010 ISO to the application folder on de MDT Server

2. Extract AdminTemplates_32.exe or AdminTemplates_64.exe to a folder.

3. Copy the Admin folder that you can find in the extracted folder to the Office 2010 folder that you created at step 1.

4. Run setup.exe /admin

5. Check the Screenshots for the settings

6. Save the file in Updates folder that you find in Office folder. I named the file setup.MSP

7. Create a new application without source files.

Command Line is:
setup.exe /adminfile “\\mdtservername\deploymentshare$\Applications\Microsoft Office 2010 x86\Updates\setup.msp”

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Documentation

Migrating from Communications Server 2007 to Lync Server 2010

This document provides guidance from migration from Office Communications Server 2007 to Microsoft Lync Server 2010.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Device Management and Troubleshooting Guide

The purpose of the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Device Management and Troubleshooting Guide is to provide guidance on how to manage and update devices. It is also intended to answer frequently asked questions. This document identifies supported topologies, configurations, and scenarios described in detail in the Lync Server device deployment and planning documentation.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Reference: Call Data Recording and Quality of Experience Database Schema

This document describes the call detail recording (CDR) and the Quality of Experience (QoE) databases schemas in Microsoft Lync Server 2010.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Administration Guide

This document guides you through the process of administering Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Server and the related components that are required to let organizations set up searchable, topic-based chat rooms that persist over time, allowing geographically distributed teams to better collaborate with one another while preserving organizational knowledge.

Migrating from Communications Server 2007 R2 to Lync Server 2010

This document provides guidance from migration from Office Communications Server 2007 R2 to Microsoft Lync Server 2010.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Monitoring Deployment Guide

This document guides you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 Monitoring Server.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Announcement Deployment Guide

This download guides you through the process of configuring the Announcement call management feature for Enterprise Voice.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Archiving Deployment Guide

The purpose of the Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Archiving Deployment Guide is to guide you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 Archiving Server and the related components that are required to support archiving of instant messaging and web conferencing (meeting) content.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Deployment Guide

This document guides you through the process of migrating and deploying Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Server and the related components that are required to let organizations set up searchable, topic-based chat rooms that persist over time, allowing geographically distributed teams to better collaborate with one another while preserving organizational knowledge.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Client and Device Deployment Guide

This download guides you through the process of deploying client software and devices for Lync 2010.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Call Park Deployment Guide

This download guides you through the process of configuring the Call Park call management feature for Enterprise Voice.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Voice Guide

This download contains two documents: Deploying Enterprise Voice at Central sites and Deploying Branch Sites

Enabling QoS with Microsoft Lync Server 2010

If your Windows Server network supports Quality of Service (QoS) management, you can take advantage of this functionality to optimize media traffic in your Microsoft Lync Server 2010 deployment. This guide shows you how.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Response Group Deployment Guide

This download guides you through the process of configuring the Response Group feature for Enterprise Voice.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Edge Server Deployment Guide

This document guides you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 edge servers and Directors.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Standard Edition Deployment Guide

This document guides you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 Standard Edition and configuring dial-in conferencing.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Active Directory Guide

This document guides you through the process of preparing Active Directory for Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and includes the Active Directory schema reference.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Edition Deployment Guide

This document guides you through the process of deploying Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Edition and configuring dial-in conferencing for Lync Server 2010.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Supportability Guide

This guide provides a central, high-level reference for supported server topologies and configurations and supported client configurations. It is also intended to answer frequently asked questions. This document identifies supported topologies, configurations, and scenarios described in detail in the Lync Server deployment and planning documentation.

Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Planning Guide

This document contains information for planning a deployment of Lync Server 2010 and Lync clients.

Hardware Load Balancers for Exchange Server 2010

Listed below are hardware load balancers that have been tested by the vendor and reviewed by Microsoft to meet Exchange Server 2010 requirements. It is recommended that you visit the vendor’s web site for the latest information regarding product specifications, capacity, country support and documentation including release notes and known issues. Please contact the vendor for more information on these products.

Hardware Load Balancers for Exchange Server 2010

Vendor	Qualified Product	Software Version Tested	Vendor’s Exchange Page
Barracuda Networks	Barracuda Load Balancer Model 340, 440, 640	3.3.1.005	Barracuda Deployment Guide
Brocade	ServerIron ADX 1000, 4000, 10000	V12.1	Brocade and Microsoft Exchange Server
Cisco	Application Control Engine (ACE)	A2(3.0)	Cisco Deployment Guide
Coyote Point Systems	Equalizer E250GX, E350GX, E450GX, E650GX	8.6.0b	Equalizer Deployment Guide for Exchange
Citrix Systems	Netscaler	9.1.102.8	Netscaler for Microsoft Exchange
F5	BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)	10.0.1 and 10.1	F5 Solutions
KEMP Technologies	LoadMaster Models: 2200, 2500, 2600, 3500, 3600, 5500	5.1-28	KEMP Exchange 2010 Deployment Guide

Kemp Technologies is added to list. This is a nice thing because the customer where I work have 2 new load balancers Open-mouthed smile .

Software Load Balancers for Exchange Server 2010

Listed below are software load balancers that have been tested by the vendor and reviewed by Microsoft to meet Exchange Server 2010 requirements. It is recommended that you visit the vendor’s web site for the latest information regarding product specifications, capacity, country support and documentation including release notes and known issues. Please contact the vendor for more information on these products.

Vendor	Qualified Product	Software Version Tested	Vendor’s Exchange Page
Citrix Systems	Netscaler VPX	9.1.102.8	Netscaler for Microsoft Exchange
F5	BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) Virtual Edition	10.1 and 10.2	F5 Solutions
KEMP Technologies	LoadMaster VLM	5.1-28	KEMP Exchange 2010 Deployment Guide

Microsoft Lync Error: "Microsoft.Rtc.Management.Deployment.DeploymentException" "Cannot determine where to install database files because Windows Management Instrumentation on the database server is unavailable from your computer or user account. To continue, you can resolve this issue, or you can specify where you want to install the files."

When Installing Lync I get the following error:

Error: An error occurred: "Microsoft.Rtc.Management.Deployment.DeploymentException" "Cannot determine where to install database files because Windows Management Instrumentation on the database server is unavailable from your computer or user account. To continue, you can resolve this issue, or you can specify where you want to install the files."

Solution: Make Sure that Windows Firewall is Enabled on Windows 2008 R2

Step 1:

Click Start, and then click Control Panel.
Open the Windows Firewall program.
Click Change Settings to view the Windows Firewall Settings dialog box.
Verify that Windows Firewall is turned on, and then click the Exceptions tab.
In the To enable an exception, select its check box window, scroll to locate the Remote Administration Program or Port exception.
Make sure that the Remote Administration Program or Port exception is selected.
Click OK to close the Windows Firewall Settings dialog box.

Step 2: I had named the pool different than the server name, so I needed to add an A record or CNAME Record to DNS to get past.

Tag: Deployment

Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals Jump Start

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Issue with MDT 2010 Update 1 and Windows AIK for Windows 7 SP1

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System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 Beta Evaluation

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Concern: Is having Outlook 2003 clients going to prevent me from deploying Exchange 2010

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NTFS Chkdsk Best Practices and Performance

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Deploy office 2010 and a previous office version together on one PC with MDT 2010

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Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Documentation

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Hardware Load Balancers for Exchange Server 2010

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Software Load Balancers for Exchange Server 2010

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