On the 28th of August Microsoft has released Microsoft Configuration Manager Release 2.
R2 is available free of charge to customers who have Software Assurance, and it comes with our updated documentation help file (SMSv4.chm). However, everybody can access this latest documentation online from the
TechNet Configuration Manager documentation library. The documentation updates include the following:
* Configuration Manager 2007 R2 features (application virtualization, Forefront client security integration, client status reporting, SQL reporting services, operating system deployment enhancements that include support for unknown computers and multicast).
* Updates and corrections to the Configuration Manager 2007 and Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 documentation.
For more information about the new features and changes in R2, see
What's New in Configuration Manager 2007 R2.
For a list of topics that have had a significant technical change since the SP1 release in May, see
What's New in the Configuration Manager Documentation Library for August 2008.
Any topic that has been changed for this release has at the top Topic last updated—August 2008. This includes the topics that have significant technical changes, R2 topics that are new or have been updated for the release (previously preliminary), and also topics that have had minor updates such as non-technical typos and minor clarifications.
You will also find 3 important new topics:
·
How to Upgrade the Windows Automated Installation Kit During Site Upgrades to Configuration Manager 2007 SP1
·
Troubleshooting Configuration Manager 2007 SP1 Setup
·
Step-By-Step Example Deployment of the PKI Certificates Required for Configuration Manager Native Mode: Windows Server 2008 Certification Authority
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If you make regular changes to your WIM files with the use of the /MOUNTRW or /DELETE switches of IMAGEX, then you may have noticed that your WIM files do not shrink in size after you commit the changes back to the file. You could delete 500mb of data from an image file, only to see the file stay the same size, or even grow by a few megabytes. The reason for this is that the data in a WIM file are not actually removed from the file when deleted, rather the references to it's contents are simply removed; this is a bit like how deleting a file from your C: drive only deletes the reference to it in the allocation table rather than actually scrubbing all the files binary 1's and 0's from the disk sectors.(
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Hi my name is Alan Goodman and I am a Senior Program Manager on the Virtual Machine Manager team. My main area of focus is VMM's integration with Operations Manager and in particular PRO. As we get closer to the RTM of VMM 2008 I wanted to take some time to help you better understand how to use the various aspects of this feature area. In this post we will start with looking at configuring the integration between VMM and Operations Manager. The following is a step by step set of instructions for walking you through this configuration.(
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Microsoft is continuing to flesh out its Software+Service portfolio and has yet another, still-unannounced, Microsoft-hosted service that it is developing. The new member of the family? System Center Online, according to tipsters who talked under the condition of anonymity.
System Center is Microsoft’s uber-brand for its systems management software. “Online” is the branding name for Microsoft-hosted enterprise services. So far, Microsoft has announced Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Communications Server Online, Dynamics CRM Online and Live Meeting (the only one of the family which still has yet to be bestowed with the “Online” name.”) There’s also a bundle, known as the Business Productivity Suite Online (a bundle of Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Communications Server Online and Live Meeting) that Microsoft has unveiled, as well. And at the very low end of the hosted services market, Microsoft is rolling out the Microsoft-hosted Deskless Worker services.(
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Further to the exciting launch of the Cross Platform Extensions Beta at MMS 2008 in Las Vegas back in April, the team have been hard at work and you can now
download the Beta 1 Refresh through Microsoft Connect!
The Beta 1 Refresh adds the following:
Ability to install the Cross Plat Extensions Beta on Operations Manager roles running a 64-bit OS;
Support for the Operations Manager Gateway role;
Monitoring of IBM AIX 5L V5.3 operating systems.
For those not familiar with the Cross Platform Extensions, they extend the monitoring and management capabilities of System Center Operations Manager 2007 to non-Microsoft platforms including Solaris, HP-UX, Red Hat, SUSE, and now (with this beta refresh) AIX. More information on the Cross Platform Extensions can be found within the
Operations Manager pages of TechNet.
If you've already subscribed to this
program on Microsoft Connect, simply visit the downloads area of the program to obtain the Beta 1 Refresh.
The
OpsManJam site has added a MPViewer dump folder in the library. While we are just starting out, what you will find here are MPViewer (thanks Boris) extractions of all the Microsoft published management packs as HTML pages.
You can use this as a reference for what is in management packs. We will be updating this regularly as new versions of Microsoft mp's and new Microsoft mp's are released.
Check it out here.
Diane Prescott, Product Manager, System Center, writes: "Today I wanted to provide an update on some information I posted back in July and also highlight some other exciting news that we came out with today.
In my previous
post, I discussed pricing and packaging changes we have coming to the Server Management Suite Enterprise (SMSE) and Virtual machine Manger (VMM), noting that in August there would be some additional details on pricing. I wanted to take an opportunity to provide an update in this area, but I also wanted to point to news we have today on new licensing and support being rolled out to ease the path to virtualization for customers by providing improved flexibility and broader support when running Microsoft server applications.
First let me address the System Center specific updates. We
recently announced updated delivery timing for VMM 2008 stating that it will most likely RTM in September 2008, meaning that customers who already have purchased the SMSE will have access to it shortly thereafter. For customers not on the SMSE, VMM 2008 will be available on the Microsoft price lists in November of this year and can be purchased as part of the SMSE or standalone. The new VMM enterprise server management license will be available for $1,304 for the license and two years of Software Assurance."
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Sealing a Management Pack is easy. Although, it can be frustrating the first time through. It's a process that requires a few different pieces to interact, so preparation is key. Going through some simple steps now will save time in the future.
Create a directory somewhere on a workstation where you'll be sealing MP's. For this example, I created the directory c:\MPS.
Copy MPSeal.exe from the source installation files "SupportTools" directory to the c:\MPS directory.
Copy sn.exe to the c:\MPS directory.
You can get the sn.exe tool with the .NET Framework SDK
Copy your unsealed MP into the directory.
Copy all the *.mp files from the RMS installation directory into the \MP directory.
Continue reading the whole article here..
Ruben Spruijt writes: Tim Mangan, the fifth Microsoft App-V MVP, created a nice whitepaper about the System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) management pack for App-V 4.5. The whitepaper describes the installation, configuration and (health) monitoring capabilities.
For an organization that uses System Center Operations Manager already, this free management pack from Microsoft can be a welcome addition that allows some limited monitoring capabilities. It is most appropriate in larger organizations where the division of responsibility leads to a list of servers and services that need to get checked off of a “to do” list by personnel who do not really even need to have a cursory knowledge what the server or service does. In that regard, additional configuration of the pack, through disabling of monitors or setting overrides, will need to be performed by someone more familiar with App-V to eliminate unwanted alerts and state display warnings.
The complete whitepaper can be downloaded
here.
Derek Harkin writes: Sometimes you need access to some information from Opsmgr in a hurry and you really do not want to open up the Ops Console and wait for it to load. Here is a powershell script that extracts information from OpsMgr and drops it into several HTML files so it can be added to a website.
Download Script
The pages created are the following:
AgentsCounts.html - This gives give you a count of the number of agents per management group and breaks this down also by per management server
MonitoredServers.html - This page gives a complete list of all the agents being monitored by Opsmgr.
ServersDown.html - This gives a list of servers that may be down. It is actaully a list of servers where the heatlth service watcher is in an "Error" state.
AgentsLast7days.html - This is a list of all agents installed in the last 7 days, when they were installed and includes their health state
The script does require some configuration before it can be used:
1) At the very start of the script you have to enter the name of the Root Management Server. You can uncomment the next lines lines and define multiple RMS's if you want to pull the information from more than 1 management group.
2) $outpath = "c:\" - Change this to where you want the script to write the html files.
3) If connecting to more than one managemet group you need to comment out line 17 an uncomment Line 19
Sajid Qayyum: We may run into a situation where we want to execute a console task within OpsMgr based on some condition, like if a file exists, run it otherwise execute another file. Without the If-condition which is not supported by the
, how can we achieve that? Well there is a workaround. Command line has an IF command through which you can do that.
IF [NOT] ERRORLEVEL number command
IF [NOT] string1==string2 command
IF [NOT] EXIST filename command
It also supports ELSE. However, for it to work, it has to occur on the same line as the command.
IF [NOT] EXIST filename (command) ELSE (command)
Adding the IF statement after the CMD.EXE (or %COMSPEC%) will give you much flexibility executing applications based on some criteria, as opposed to directly running the application. For Example:
%COMSPEC% /c IF EXIST C:\MyFile.exe (C:\MyFile.exe) ELSE (C:\MyOtherFile.exe)
My good friend and fellow SCOM-MVP writes:
Compiled from blog and newsgroup sources, this pdf contains a list of XML strings commonly used in OpsMgr and Essentials 2007 in a variety of rules and monitors related to events, perf data, log files, SYSLOG, SNMP and notification. It seemed like a good idea to clean these references up, add a couple of examples and share it.
XML Cheat Sheet for Operations Manager and Essentials 2007
Page 390 of System Center Operations Manager 2007 Unleashed discusses modifying the Registry settings for the EnableADIntegration key on the RMS and management servers. This information was based on our own experiences and testing during earlier versions of OpsMgr 2007, as well as recommendations from Microsoft. Microsoft has since changed the behavior such that this Registry key hack is no longer recommended, and can actually cause problems.
We will be changing the information in the next printing of the book and the errata to say:
To complete the proces of activating OpsMgr integration with AD, validate that the registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\HealthService\Parameters\ConnectionManager\EnableADIntegration is set to 0.This is the default setting.
There has been some confusion regarding how to configure this setting on management servers. However, do not change it to 1; the value should actually be the default configuration of 0. Changing the value to 1 is not required and actually may cause issues on the management servers.
This Management Pack Monitors DHCP infrastructure health, availability, and performance. The Windows Server DHCP 2000/2003/2008 Management Pack includes monitors, rules, views, and reports for the monitoring of your DHCP infrastructure. Alerts contain context sensitive knowledge base of useful information to help administrators resolve an issue when DHCP fails to process.
Note: This package includes library MP, 2000 and 2003 MPs, and DHCP 2008 MP. DHCP 2008 MP can only be installed on System Center OpsMgr 2007 SP1. Others can be installed on either OpsMgr 2007 RTM or OpsMgr 2007 SP1.
Windows Server DHCP 2000/2003/2008 Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007
from any beta), I thought I'd give folks a heads up on some of the things that we've added/changed for the final release next month which weren't in the beta. While the beta was advertised as "feature complete", we did take a bunch of the feedback that you sent our way and hopefully the end result is an even better final product. Here's a list outlining some of the key improvements:
Support for managing hosts in a Disjoint Namespace
PRO
- Support for enabling PRO on non-clustered hosts
- Automated loading of OpsMgr MPs via Configure Operations Manager option in Setup
- View Script Option – now you can preview the script that PRO will run to implement the PRO Tip
Admin Console
- Network Diagram View graphically shows how your hosts and VMs are connected to networks in your environment (some screen shots to follow)
- New, more polished UI
Self-Service
- Allow users to mount ISOs
- Completely overhauled UI
VMware management
- Support for VMware HA along with HA VM creation on VMware clusters
- Enhanced security for VMware management
- Management of ESX 3i
Global Static MAC Address range – configure the range of MAC addresses VMM uses when creating new virtual network devices
P2V improvements
- Support for offline conversion using static IP
- Storage and network driver detection for offline conversion
- P2V of domain controller
VM Creation
- Creation of VMs without customization required (templates now have the option of “skipping” customization) so you can use non-Windows templates
- Product Key encryption by default in Guest OS profile
- VHD expansion
Setup and Installation
- SQL 2008 Support
- VMM 2007 to VMM 2008 Migration
- Ability to install as a domain user in addition to local system
Often times, after creating an MDT or SCCM task sequence, you need to document it for yourself or your customers. Usually, this involves creating a table with the groups and steps, extracting their descriptions, identifying conditions and denoting the step actions and variables and then having format it all nicely and with indents denoting hierarchy. All of this information is usually already in the XML of the task sequence and all you're really doing is formatting. You can automatically format XML documents by using an XSL transform with the right logic. In order to do this:
1. Copy the attached file at the bottom of the post to the same folder as your task sequence.
2. Open your task sequence in your favourite text editor.
3. After the first line which should look something like this:
[ ERROR ]
4. Save your task sequence file and open it in Internet Explorer. Presto! The XSL takes care of formatting, indents and sizing. (more)
On september 12th 2008, the dutch System Center User Group, INOVATIV (the System Center specialists) and Secure Vantage, will organize thé System Center event of the year: "Meer dan beheer 2008" in The Netherlands. Dutch speaking professionals and IT managers are invited to join them in Microsoft's Innovation Center in Barneveld for a half day about System Center.
This year, there's a fantastic guest speaker: Jeremiah Beckett, president and chief architect at Secure Vantage; he will be doing a 2 hour session on System Center and Security Management. Also, dutch SCOM-MVP Maarten Goet will be presenting on the vision behind System Center (codename "Oslo", Dynamic IT and a preview to Service Manager). Arthur Nieuwland, multi-year expert on IT Business Intelligence, will be demonstrating the power of System Center and Business Intelligence. Microsoft's System Center dutch product manager, Robert Bakker, will be opening the day!
People visiting the event will have a chance to win a Microsoft Zune. There are 90 seats available, but registration is going fast. Techlog will be extensively covering the event, but you can join also. Just send an email to registratie@meerdanbeheer.nl to get your personal registration code, so you can join for free! Provided by Techlog, in cooperation with the event organization. (more)
Today's tip comes from Robb Dilallo, via Tim Kremer. Robb found that it was frustrating to try to edit an exported custom management pack because he couldn't access the sealed, dependent management pack. He shared the following steps to create a "management pack development environment":
1. On the RMS, do a search for *.mp in the C:\Program Files directory.
2. Create a directory in a temporary location. For example, C:\DEV\SealedMP\.
3. Copy all the management packs found in step 1 to C:\DEV\SealedMP.
4. Open the Authoring Console, and go to Tools -> Options.
5. Select the References tab, and click Add.
6. Browse to C:\DEV\SealedMP and select Okay twice.
7. Select Tools -> Import MP from Management Group, and type in your RMS.
8. Select the custom management pack you'd like to edit.
This removes the difficulty of accessing the dependent sealed management pack.
Installing ConfigMgr 2007 onto a Windows Server 2008 based server can be a little tricky. Having recently been through the process for my own lab environment I thought I’d share the process in the hope that it will save you some time when you need to created this configuration. Before you begin you will need to gather the following components:
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise RTM (x86) and Licence Key
SQL Server 2005 and Licence Key
System Center Configuration Manager 2007 and Licence Key
You will also need to download the following components:
Microsoft WebDAV Extension for IIS 7.0 (x86) : http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=036269fa-0040-4ccd-ad3d-78da1ee132fb&DisplayLang=en
Windows Software Update Services 3.0 SP1: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/wsus/bb466190.aspx
SQL 2005 SP2: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=d07219b2-1e23-49c8-8f0c-63fa18f26d3a&DisplayLang=en
SQL critical update 934458: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934458
ConfigMgr 2007 SP1: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=5AAE62E8-4B7F-4AF7-BE01-AEFAA4BF059A&displaylang=en
Continue to read here: How to Setup ConfigMgr 2007 on Windows Server 2008
Anders Bengtsson writes: This management pack allows security groups in Active Directory to be used to discover classes in Operations Manager 2007. For example if you already have your servers divied into security groups in Active Directory you can use populate classes from those groups and use the same in Operations Manager 2007 for targeting.This management pack needs to be adapt to your environment before you can use it. I recommend you to do that in the Authoring Console.
The management pack includes two classes, Contoso.GRP2CL.Fileservers and Contoso.GRP2CL.AppServers. Both these classes have one discovery rule each. The discover rules use script to check if the local machine is member of a specified security group in Active Directory. If they are, they create a instance of the class. The LDAP path is configure in the script. You should also change the discovery schedule, default time is every two minute.
The management pack also includes two state views to show which machines that are in the classes. Every two minute it runs a script on all windows servers to see if they are member of a security group in Active Directory. If they are, a instance of the class is created. Download the package here. Please note that this is a sample/idea, make sure to test and review it in a testenvironment.
Hot from the Microsoft Environment blog: Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr) 2007 has launched a new Desired Configuration Management (DCM) pack that fully complies with ENERGY STAR configuration guidelines! The new pack, which is endorsed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), enables customers to assess their client settings against the following ENERGY STAR defined efficiency levels and recommendations:
Ensure computers enter system standby or hibernate after 30 to 60 minutes of inactivity.
Ensure monitors enter sleep mode after 5 to 20 minutes of inactivity.
Create a warning notification report if screen savers are not disabled. If one is enabled, the wait timeout period should be less than the monitor sleep setting.
This ConfigMgr 2007-based solution makes it easier for IT Professionals to ensure that PCs are configured with the appropriate energy savings - driving improved power management implementations that can lower operational costs for ConfigMgr 2007-supported organizations. The solution also provides a basis for compliance reporting against various pledge programs, such as Climate Savers Computing Initiative and ENERGY STAR Low Carbon IT Campaign. For more information and/or to download the pack, please visit the System Center ConfigMgr 2007 ENERGY STAR Config Pack page on the Microsoft Environment site.
REDMOND, Wash. — Aug. 6, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the release to manufacturing of Microsoft SQL Server 2008, the new version of the company’s acclaimed data management and business intelligence platform. This version of SQL Server provides powerful new capabilities such as support for policy-based management, auditing, large-scale data warehousing, geospatial data, and advanced reporting and analysis services. SQL Server 2008 provides the trusted, productive and intelligent platform necessary for business-critical applications.
“Microsoft developed this release of SQL Server with the customer in mind,” said Ted Kummert, corporate vice president of the Data and Storage Platform Division at Microsoft. “SQL Server 2008 is the only major database that includes comprehensive, tightly integrated functionality for data management as well as advanced business intelligence out of the box. By offering a complete solution, we save customers time and money and allow them to focus on deriving the most value from their data assets.”
Pricing and Availability
SQL Server 2008 is now available to MSDN and TechNet subscribers and will be available for evaluation download on Aug. 7, 2008. SQL Server 2008 Express and SQL Server Compact editions are available for free download today at http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver. As previously announced, pricing for SQL Server will not increase with SQL Server 2008. More information is available at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/sqlserver.
Here's a sample entry from the Management Packs category of the System Center Solutions Contest. By Scott Moss, his Custom Free Disk Space Monitoring Script (MP) eases and issue that's been around from the MOM 2005 days.
Operations Manager 2007 free disk space script monitor had the same problem the original mom 2005 script had. It required a disk to cross both a percent free and free megabytes thresholds before an alert would be fired off. This script only works on logical disks, not mount points. Monitoring of mount points is done by another script/monitor.
This management pack contains one Monitor named Logical Disk Free Space – Customized that runs the modified Operations Manager 2007 free disk space script. The monitor is setup to run every 15 minutes on the hour. The monitor is disabled by default. There are four rules to catch possible errors that are written to the agents Operations Manager event log.
OpsMgr: Custom Free Disk Space Monitoring Script (MP)
The most senior Microsoft person ever to tell me off for something did so for my repeating of something which was circulating at IT-Forum last year - that there was a plan to sync up the release of the new version of System Center Virtual Machine Manager and Hyper-V.
Obviously the two product teams want the smallest gap between the two, but syncing up the two really was never in the plans. Product groups prefer to be vague about dates; they'd much rather say things like "Second half of the year". - which until recently that was the line on SCVMM. According to Computer World, our Chief Operating Office, Kevin Turner announced that it would be September, and that's confirmed on Rakesh's blog.
That's within a nice round 90 days after Hyper-V Released; not that anyone authoritative ever gave that timescale.
Overview: The Windows Deployment Services Management Pack includes monitors, rules, views, tasks and knowledge for the monitoring of your Windows Deployment Services infrastructure for Windows Server 2008.
Feature Summary
Native Systems Center Operations Manager 2007 MP
Windows Server 2008 Support
Service Health Monitoring
State and Alert Views
Performance Monitoring
Alert Knowledge Base Information
Windows Deployment Services Management Pack for Operations Manager 2007
We've received a number of questions over the past few days on the best way to upgrade from MDT 2008 to MDT 2008 Update 1 without losing any settings. The most common problem that has been seen is that the Deployment Points are no longer present after installing MDT 2008 Update 1. The following instructions will allow you to upgrade and maintain all of your existing settings:
1. Before installing MDT 2008 Update make a backup of the Deploy.XML file. The file is located by default in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Deployment Toolkit\Control
2. Install the MDT 2008 Update 1 MSI
3. Launch the Deployment Workbench and right click on Distribution Share and choose Create distribution share directory
4. A wizard will then be presented. Choose Upgrade an existing distribution share and type or browse to the path of your existing distribution share. Check the check box to Backup existing scripts and configuration files and click on Finish (the files will be backed up to the Distribution\Backup folder)
5. Close the Deployment Workbench and restore the Deploy.xml that was backed up earler to C:\Program Files\Microsoft Deployment Toolkit\Control, overwriting the existing file
6. Launch the Deployment Workbench, navigate to the Deployment Points and your Deployment Points should now be visible.
7. Right click on each Deployment Point and choose Update. This will update all of the Windows PE images with the correct version of the scripts
8. If you are using WDS, you will now need to replace your boot image in WDS with the updated Lite Touch WIM file (more)
Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2008 Update 1 unifies the tools and processes required for desktop and server deployment into a common deployment console and collection of guidance. The fourth generation deployment accelerator adds integration with recently released Microsoft deployment technologies to create a single path for image creation and automated installation. MDT’s tools and end-to-end guidance reduce deployment time, standardize desktop and server images, limit service disruptions, reduce post-deployment help desk costs, and improve security and ongoing configuration management.
Microsoft Deployment Toolkit technologies eliminate interaction time required to install desktop and server operating systems. Interaction at the targeted computer may take a few moments using the Lite Touch Installation (LTI) method or it can be completely automated using Zero Touch Installation (ZTI). Zero Touch Installation utilizes Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 or Systems Management Server 2003 with the Operating System Deployment Feature Pack. Lite Touch Installation can be used when software distribution tools are not in place.
Microsoft Deployment Tookit 2008 Update 1 also uses Configuration Manager 2007’s stand-alone media-initiated operating system deployment feature. This release offers project management guidance for all deployment roles and separates technical documentation for the products and technologies to facilitate automation tasks.
Download Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2008 Update 1 (more)
