Ronni Pedersen's Blog Site

Anyone who manages large numbers of virtual machines share the challenge of keeping the virtual machine client operating system up to date. Virtual machines that are left offline for extended periods of time do not automatically receive operating system, antivirus, or application updates that would keep them compliant with current IT policy. The Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool 2.0 provides a way to automate the process of updating virtual machines with the latest operating system updates.

You can read more about the Solution Accelerator at: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc501231.aspx

Download the Offline Virtual Machine Servicing Tool  2.0.1.

See a demo video here:

During the last couple of days Microsoft has been migrating, the System Center Configuration Manager 2007 forums to a new and updated version.

The forum migration is now completed and I encourage you all to try the new forum. So far it everything seems to be both faster and more reliable.

Microsoft TechNet Forums
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/categories/ 

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 - Forum list
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/configurationmanager/

Here is each individual one if you are interested in only a single one:

Date: 
Friday, December 19, 2008
11:30 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada)

Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2 includes integrated provisioning and management support for Intel vPro/Active Management Technology (AMT) hardware management technologies. This integration provides a strong solution for enterprise management of both desktop software and hardware platforms within a single unified administration console. Join this webcast to learn how to provision and use vPro to extend the capabilities of System Center Configuration Manager to incorporate secure hardware and power management for a truly green managed enterprise desktop solution. Topics include:

• System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2
• Intel vPro hardware management and security
• Centralized Intel vPro provisioning
• Remote troubleshooting with Intel vPro hardware management
• Centralized power management
• Secure wake and update

Presenter: Keith Mayer, Senior Consultant, WrightRobbins, Inc.
For the past 15 years, Keith Mayer has focused on design, implementation and training of Information Technology projects for large global organizations. Currently, Keith is working with Intel to support enterprise network technologies and initiatives.  Keith focuses on development and delivery of best practices in training and learning consulting services to a worldwide audience of Intel and Microsoft partners and customers. Keith also works closely with industry organizations as a subject matter expert in the areas of project management, datacenter consolidation and virtualization.

Register for this Live WebCast:
http://www.microsoft.com/events/EventDetails.aspx?CMTYSvcSource=MSCOMMedia&Params=%7eCMTYDataSvcParams%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ID%22+Value%3d%221032392909%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22ProviderID%22+Value%3d%22A6B43178-497C-4225-BA42-DF595171F04C%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22lang%22+Value%3d%22en%22%2f%5e%7earg+Name%3d%22cr%22+Value%3d%22US%22%2f%5e%7esParams%5e%7e%2fsParams%5e%7e%2fCMTYDataSvcParams%5e

With the RTM of System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (SCVMM), lots of pepole will start playing with all the cool new features. To help you getting started with Hyper-V and System Center Virtual Machine Manager, Microsoft has launched a couple of free online training courses for their virtualisation platform:

Clinic 5935 - Introducing Hyper-V in Windows Server 2008

This 2-hour online clinic provides IT Professionals experienced in Windows 2000 Server or Windows Server 2003 with the knowledge and skills to implement and manage Hyper-V in an IT environment.

Topics covered in the clinic include:

• Features of Hyper-V
• Features of server consolidation
• Hyper-V implementation
• Creation of virtual machines
• Dynamic datacenters
• Clustering in virtual environments

Student Prerequisites

• 3+ years of experience planning, implementing, and supporting a Microsoft Windows-based network using Windows Server 2000 or Windows Server 2003.
• A Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) on Windows Server 2003 credential or equivalent knowledge.
• Familiarity with operational best practices such as those described in the Microsoft Operations Framework (MOF) or Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL).

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/elearning/course/5935.mspx

Clinic 6334: Exploring Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008

This 2-hour online clinic provides IT Professionals experienced in Windows 2000 Server or Windows Server 2003 with the knowledge to implement and manage Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008.

Topics covered in the clinic include:

• Features and functionalities of VMM
• Implementation and management of VMM
• Management of VMM library
• Management of hosts by using VMM
• Implementation of virtual machine Self-Services

Student Prerequisites

• Experience in planning, implementing, and supporting Windows Server–based networks, operating systems and platform infrastructure. This may include experience in Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008.
• Knowledge of server virtualization and Hyper-V.

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/elearning/course/6334.mspx

The waiting is finally over...System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (SCVMM) Has now gone RTM.
SCVMM provides a management solution for the virtualized data center that helps enable centralized management of IT infrastructure, increased server utilization, and dynamic resource optimization across multiple virtualization platforms.

Highlights of System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008:

• Support for VMs Running on Windows Server 2008
• Multi-Vendor Virtualization Platform Support
• Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO)
• Host Cluster Support for “High Availability” Virtual Machines

Download evaluation copy here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=ED012990-6E86-4B43-9842-DA5C02FF1C83&displaylang=en

Read more about System Center Virtual Machine manager here:
http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/virtualmachinemanager/en/us/default.aspx

The Microsoft Application Virtualization ADM template configures client settings for the App-V Windows Desktop Client and for the Terminal Services client. The ADM template centrally manages common client configurations by using an existing Group Policy infrastructure and includes settings for communication, client interface, and permissions.

Feature Bullet Summary:
The ADM Template for App-V 4.5 provides central client settings administration for App-V 4.5 deployment, including the following:

• Client permissions
• Client interface behavior
• Client communication settings

Download the App-V Client ADM template here. It’s not an admx but the "old-style” adm template. Hopefully we’ll see an admx file in a near future.

This guide helps you become familiar with Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 by providing instructions for creating a virtual machine and configuring virtual networks. For more information about Hyper-V Server 2008, see the Microsoft Web site (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=129170).

Download: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=26426203-de3c-4d74-851e-4e1388a81d5f&DisplayLang=en

This online book describes the fundamentals of TCP/IP in Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003.

This online book is a structured, introductory approach to the basic concepts and principles of the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) protocol suite, how the most important protocols function, and their basic configuration in the Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 families of operating systems. This book is primarily a discussion of concepts and principles to lay a conceptual foundation for the TCP/IP protocol suite and provides an integrated discussion of both Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6).

Download: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c76296fd-61c9-4079-a0bb-582bca4a846f&DisplayLang=en

Today I worked on a small MDT LiteTouch deployment solution at one of our customers. I thought this was going to be another easy day in the office.
After a day looking through log files, debugging and trying to figure out what was going on, I finally found the solution.

Thanks Jacques for posting this great tip.

When running WAIK 1.1 on a x64 Windows 2008 systems, you cannot generate a catalog for a captures x86 Vista or Windows 2008.
It’s a shame, really. But there is a workaround:

1. Copy the original catalog of your Vista x86 (INSTALL_WINDOWS VISTA ENTERPRISE.CLG) from your distribution share’s original OS (Distribution\Operating Systems\OriginalVistaEntSP1×86\sources) to the folder in which your imported your captured image (\Distribution\Operating Systems\MasterVistaEntSP1×86)
2. Rename the .clg file to a name that match your customized image in the form WIMFileName_ImageName (MasterVistaEntSP1×86_BUILD-VISTASP1CDrive.CLG in my case.)
3. Launch System Image Manager (do not use the Edit Unattended.xml button of Task Sequence Properties in MDT!)
4. Open your Unattended.xml file corresponding to the deployment task sequence of your captured image (\Distribution\Control\DEPL-VISTASP1X86 in my case). Ignore errors and message about catalog.
5. In the Windows Image pane (the catalog pane), right click the Windows Vista Vista and click Close Windows Image.
6. In the empty Windows Image pane, right click, choose Select Windows Image, change the file type to .clg, browse to the Operating Systems subfolder of your captured image and select the catalog file you just renamed (MasterVistaEntSP1×86_BUILD-VISTASP1CDrive.CLG).
7. Save your answer file

Now you can open it from the Edit Unattended.xml button of Task Sequence Properties in MDT!