Tag: Deployment

Moved al mailboxen to Office 365 & Still using dirsync! Can you remove the last Exchange 2010/2013 Server. Yes It Can! Just don’t do it!! You will have a support issue when you have problems!!

After a customer migrated  to Exchange Online some time ago.
They wanted not a hybrid situation. but they are using still DirSync!

After reading: Decommissioning your Exchange 2010 servers in a Hybrid Deployment a I read its not a real problem.

Changed DirSync & After that Uninstalling Exchange 2013 was very easy.

I had only to disable the Arbitration mailboxes: I did that with the following powershell command:

Get-Mailbox -Arbitration | disable-Mailbox -arbitration -RemoveLastArbitrationMailboxAllowed

I did not publish this article because i has still some doubts!!

I had still a question: Do want to remove the last Exchange Server? Have you a supported Environment without a local Exchange Server and still using DirSync??

Yes & No!!

After reading Concerning Trends Discovered During Several Critical Escalations

Microsoft Says:
You may remove the last Exchange Server locale when you move totally to Office 365/Exchange Online, but change Exchange Attribuuts trough ADSI is not supported.

If you don’t have a third party tool for that. The only way is trough ADSI and that is not supported.

My Conclusion:

You have a support issue when you dropped a Call at Microsoft and they investigate your environment.
Don’t remove the last Exchange Server even when all mailboxen exist in Office 365/Exchange Online and keep them up to date!
You can always install a Exchange Server but most of the times it will be always to late!

MDT Create your own Default Task Sequence

MDT is a greate tool, You can create your own Default Task Sequence for Clients Servers!!

Normal i need to customize every Task Sequence that i create and that is so boring!!

I Create in this example a task sequence (ID & NAME) Server and Changed some things things like Windows Update.

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So now go to to that Folder \\DeploymentShare\Control\Server
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Copy the TS.XML

Go to: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Deployment Toolkit\Templates & save the TS.XML File

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Rename the TS.xml file. I my demo Ward Server Deployment.xml

Edit the Name and the Description:image

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When you maken now what to make a new Task Sequence, You will see Ward Server Deployment Listed. Freaking Awesome!!

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Bulk import applicaties in MDT

Mikael Nystrom created i freaking nice script.

Often I need to import applications into the Deployment workbench and that is fine. The process is easy and fast, but it is boring and if you have more then 5 apps it is really boring. Based on the fact that almost all my apps in MDT is deployed using VB or PowerShell wrappers its is just one file in a folder and then there is a subfolder with the content. You don’t need to be a genius to figure out that 90% of all the apps pretty much have the same folder and file structure in the root of the application folder, so why don’t we use PowerShell to import all the apps based on some guessing?

The command line:
This is the tricky part, since there is no way to know that it will be a guessing game and the command line might need to be modified after import, but I rather modify 2-3 applications instead of importing all of them manually.
The default cmdline for all imported apps will be:

.EXE    “$Install /q”
.MSI    “msiexec.exe /i $Install /qn”
.MSU    “wusa.exe $Install /Quiet /NoRestart”
.PS1    “PowerShell.exe -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -File $Install”
.WSF    “cscript.exe $Install”

The Script:
The script is rather easy, it takes 2 parameters. The folder from where to import and the deployment share. You need to have MDT installed since it is using PowerShell cmdlets from MDT. The syntax for the script looks like this:

.\Import-MDTApps.ps1 -ImportFolder d:\APPS -MDTFolder D:\DeploymentShare

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You can download the script here: http://1drv.ms/1pGTvkA mirror: Import-MDTApps.7z

Exchange & Patching!!!

Microsoft recommends adopting a software update strategy that ensures all software follows N to N-1 policy, where N is a service pack, update rollup, cumulative update, maintenance release, or whatever terminology is used by the software vendor. Microsoft strongly recommend that our customers also adopt a similar strategy with respect to hardware firmware and drivers ensuring that network cards, BIOS, and storage controllers/interfaces are kept up to date.

Software patching is not simply an issue for Microsoft software. You must also ensure that all inter-dependent solutions (e.g., Blackberry Enterprise Server, backup software, etc.) are kept up-to-date for a specific release as this ensures optimal reliability and compatibility.

Customers must also follow the software vendor’s Software Lifecycle and appropriately plan on upgrading to a supported version in the event that support for a specific version is about to expire or is already out of support.

For Exchange 2010, this means having all servers deployed with Service Pack 3 and either Rollup 7 or Rollup 8 (at the time of this writing). For Exchange 2013, this means having all servers deployed with Cumulative Update 6 or Cumulative Update 7 (at the time of this writing).

For environments that have a hybrid configuration with Office 365, the servers participating in the hybrid configuration must be running the latest version (e.g., Exchange 2010 SP3 RU8 or Exchange 2013 CU7) or the prior version (e.g., Exchange 2010 SP3 RU7 or Exchange 2013 CU6) in order to maintain and ensure compatibility with Office 365. There are some required dependencies for hybrid deployments, so it’s even more critical you keep your software up to date if you choose to go hybrid.

Exchange Administrator’s toolkit

There are lots of tools for Exchange Server available, you can find most of them at the Exchange Server Wiki (some of the tools listed are for previous versions of Exchange).

Here is a short selection from the vast collection available:

Updated: Update Rollup 8 v2 For Exchange 2010 SP3 (KB2986475) Released

An issue has been identified in the Exchange Server 2010 SP3 Update Rollup 8. The update has been recalled and is no longer available on the download center pending a new RU8 release. Customers should not proceed with deployments of this update until the new RU8 version is made available. Customers who have already started deployment of RU8 should rollback this update.

The issue impacts the ability of Outlook to connect to Exchange, thus we are taking the action to recall the RU8 to resolve this problem. We will deliver a revised RU8 package as soon as the issue can be isolated, corrected, and validated. We will publish further updates to this blog post regarding RU8.

This issue only impacts the Exchange Server 2010 SP3 RU8 update, the other updates remain valid and customers can continue with deployment of these packages.

Check: http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2014/12/09/exchange-releases-december-2014.aspx

Updated: Update Rollup 8 v2 For Exchange 2010 SP3 (KB2986475) has been released

Cumulative Update 7 for Exchange Server 2013

Today, Cumulative Update 7 for Exchange Server 2013 was released by the Exchange Team (KB2986485). This update raises Exchange 2013 version number to 15.0.1044.22.

Note: Customers that run backups of their Exchange databases are advised to upgrade to CU7 and perform a post-upgrade full backup. This is due to a race condition which could prevent proper restoration of pre-CU7 Exchange databases.

Notes:

  • When using Exchange hybrid deployments or Exchange Online Archiving (EOA), you are required to stay current.
  • CU7 adds support for hierarchies containing 250,000 modern public folders. Consult this article for co-existence scenarios.
  • Be advised of OAB architectural changes introduced with CU5 which are documented here. If you are affected, it is recommended to update CAS servers prior to Mailbox servers.
  • If you have installed the Interim Update to fix Hybrid Configuration Wizard, you can install the Cumulative Update over it – there is no need to uninstall the IU prior to installing CU6.

This Cumulative Update includes schema and AD changes, so make sure you run PrepareSchema / PrepareAD. After updating, the schema version will be 15965.

Note that Cumulative Updates can be installed directly, i.e. no need to install RTM or Service Packs prior to installing Cumulative Updates. Note that once installed, you can’t uninstall a Cumulative Update nor any of the installed Exchange server roles. The order of upgrading servers is irrelevant, unlike with previous generations of Exchange.

Finally, for any Hotfix, Rollup, Service Pack or Cumulative Update, I’d recommend to thoroughly test this in a test and acceptance environment first, prior to implementing it in production.

You can download Exchange 2013 Cumulative Update 7 here; UM Language Packs can be found here.

This update resolves security issues that are described in December 2014 security update for Exchange Server 2013 Service Pack 1 and Cumulative Update 6.
Additionally, this update also resolves the issues that are described in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) articles:

  • 3004235 Exchange Server meetings in Russian time zones as well as names of time zones are incorrect after October 26, 2014

  • 3012655 New-MailboxImportRequest causes unreadable characters when you import an ANSI format .pst file of Russian language

  • 3012652 CalendarProcessing cmdlet does not generate delegate permissions to universal security groups in Exchange Server 2013

  • 3009631 Advanced Find against the Sent Items folder in Outlook returns no result in Exchange Server 2013

  • 3009612 Outlook Web App shows organization details on the contact card beyond the scope of user ABP in Exchange Server 2013

  • 3009291 Shared mailbox cannot be opened in Outlook in an Exchange Server 2013 environment that has multiple domains

  • 3008453 Cannot edit or delete forms from the organizational forms library in Exchange Server 2013

  • 3008438 User who is trying to Log on to Exchange Admin Console is logged in to OWA instead

  • 3006672 Move request fails if the IsExcludedFromProvisioning option is true in Exchange Server 2013

  • 3005391 Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 5 breaks free|busy lookup from Exchange Online to Exchange Server 2007

  • 3003986 RejectMessageReasonText in transport rule appears in the user section of a DSN in Exchange Server 2013

  • 3001217 TLS 1.0 is hardcoded for SMTP traffic encryption in Exchange Server 2013

  • 3001037 Distribution group cannot send email messages to a mail enabled public folder in an Exchange Server 2013 environment

  • 2999031 A cross-forest mailbox move from Exchange Server 2007 to Exchange Server 2013 finishes with CompletedWithWarnings status

  • 2998144 New-MoveRequest cmdlet with RemoteLegacy parameter cannot perform a cross-forest mailbox move

  • 2988553 Add-ADPermission and Remove-ADPermission can be run outside the management scope in Exchange Server 2013

  • 2981538 Exchange Control Panel crashes when you proxy from Exchange 2013 to Exchange 2010

  • 3014051 Cannot migrate mailboxes in a multiple domains environment in Exchange Server 2013

  • 3012986 ContentIndexRetryQueueSize value for a passive node never drops to zero in Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 6

  • 3004011 Sound alerts do not work in Outlook Web App when new email or calendar notification is received in Exchange Server 2013

  • 3003580 Event ID 4999 and 4401 when the Microsoft Exchange Replication service crashes in Exchange Server 2013

  • 3003518 “550 5.7.1” NDR when you send messages to external recipients in an Exchange Server 2013 hybrid environment

  • 3003068 Cannot see online archive mailbox after you upgrade to Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 6

  • 3000944 Subfolders under the Deleted Items folder are not visible in Outlook in an Exchange Server 2013 environment

  • 2997847 You cannot route ActiveSync traffic to Exchange 2007 mailboxes after you upgrade to Exchange 2013 CU6

  • 2997355 Exchange Online mailboxes cannot be managed by using EAC after you deploy Exchange Server 2013 CU6

  • 2997209 Exchange Server 2013 databases unexpectedly fail over in a co-existence environment with Exchange Server 2007

  • 2995263 OAB cannot be rebuilt if the .flt file is larger than two GB in Exchange Server 2013

  • 2994216 PublicFolderMoveRequest deletes all read or unread state in target mailbox for each user in Exchange Server 2013

  • 2993871 Resource Booking Assistant crashes after you upgrade to Exchange Server 2013 Cumulative Update 5

  • 2983216 Category setting on an item in Outlook jumps the selection to the top of the list in an Exchange Server 2013 environment

  • 2931223 MAPI virtual directory is missing from Default Web Site node

MDT v.Next Coming….

New core tools

Windows 10 ADK supports Windows 7, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 deployments.

Windows Image Configuration Designer (WICD), pronounced Wicked ?   🙂  Is supposed to be able to build a customized mobile or desktop image, and also create provisioning packages that allow you to customize a Windows device, without re-imaging.

Microsoft Deployment Toolkit v.Next (MDT) (standalone)

New upcoming version of MDT is in development, not much info presented yet, but a few items were mentioned in the session:

Windows 10 Deployment and Upgrade Support, as well as updated Task Sequence binaries

Removed deprecated components from Deployment Workbench, and making OSD more accessibility compliant.

MDT documentation will be on TechNet (removed legacy help file and DOCX)

Clean Up your template before Sysprep and Capture a reference image in MDT

When you create a reference Image it will in most cases it will be updated with patches. That will make the image bigger and bigger and there fore the deployment of that image will take longer and consume more network resources & unneeded disk space. That can be corrected by getting rid of superseded patches, junk, temp files and much more.

The Solution

Since MDT is the preferred method to create reference images you can download the script, import it as an application and then run the application just before the Sysprep and Capture step. The Script works for the following versions of Windows:

  • Windows 7 SP1
  • Windows 8
  • Windows 8.1 Update
  • Windows Server 2008 2 SP1
  • Windows Server 2012
  • Windows Server 2012 R2

To make this work in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 you need to add a hotfix to Packages in MDT. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2852386

Download the script

Download the script from here: Mirror Mirror 2

Action-CleanupBeforeSysprep Applicationimage

Task Sequenceimage

Created a Group Clean.
Add install a application –> Action-CleanUpBeforeSysprep
Restart Computer (Very Important) without it will not work

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Source

Deploy Windows 10 and Windows Server vNext Technical Preview Using MDT 2013

1. Mount boot.wim file
Dism /Mount-Image /ImageFile:”D:\DeploymentShare\Operating Systems\Windows Server Technical Preview\sources\boot.wim” /index:1 /MountDir:D:\offline

2. Copy the dism.exe and DISM folder from the Windows 10 Technical Preview boot.wim file to your deployment share, in my case D:\DeploymentShare\Tools\x64.

The dism.exe file and DISM folder are found in the X:\Windows\System32 on your boot image (once booted), or D:\Offline\Windows\System32 if you just mounted the boot.wim.

3. Unmount the image|
Dism /Unmount-Image /MountDir:”D:\Offline” /Discard

4. Edit the Task Sequence
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After copying the files, add two run command line actions to your Windows 10 Technical Preview and Server vNext Preview task sequence after Preinstall – Enable Bitlocker (Offline)

Copy WTP dism.exe
cmd /c copy %deployroot%\tools\%architecture%\dism.exe x:\windows\system32\ /y

Copy WTP DISM subsystem
cmd /c copy %deployroot%\tools\%architecture%\dism\*  x:\windows\system32\dism /y

5. Deploy Machines

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