This is the first part of a series of three articles covering two great WMI tools, introduces how System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) uses WMI in OS deployment task-sequences.

SCCM task-sequence

Recently I had to use SCCM to deploy a Windows XP image with support for seventeen models. To achieve this aim, a major requirement was to check the target hardware was indeed one of the seventeen models supported before pushing a 6GB image to it.

Briefly, SCCM performs OS deployment by preparing a blank disk, writing an image to the disk and injecting appropriate drivers using a template of commands in sequence. Microsoft cunningly calls this a task-sequence. To provide filtering logic, each step within a task-sequence has an options tab where you can add a WMI query. This allows you to use WMI queries which let you target machines very easily but you need to discover the exact model string for the query to work.

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This tutorial describes how to integrate Forefront Endpoint Protection (FEP) 2012 in System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2012.

With the move away from Forefront Client Security to Forefront Endpoint Protection, Microsoft did away with the MOM backend and instead made use of the infrastructure available to System Center Configuration Manager to install, manage and deploy FEP.

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In part 2 of this overview of System Center Advisor we look at how SCA helps with troubleshooting, the different parts of the console, the data that’s collected and conclude with a look at the future of SCA.

Part 1 of this review gave an overview of System Center Advisor. Today, I will discuss how SCA can be integrated in your network.

A typical troubleshooting session without SCA starts when you’re tracking down a problem; when you’ve identified the symptoms and any event log / error log messages you use your favorite search engine to try to come up with a solution. This can sometimes take hours of searching and implementing different solutions until the right one is found.

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In part 1 of this two part review we look at what System Center Advisor is and how it works as well as how to deploy it.

Imagine that you’re a systems administrator troubleshooting an SQL or AD server that’s misbehaving. Now envision a gadget that could send you all the accumulated knowledge and skill contained in a senior Microsoft field engineer to sit right next to you and help you. That gadget is not System Center Advisor, at least not yet, but the vision is there.

System Center Advisor (SCA), formerly known under the codename Atlanta is a new cloud service from Microsoft that assesses server configuration and helps you proactively avoid problems. It gives you access to current and historical configuration data as well as reducing downtime by proposing improvements and notifying you of updates.

System Center Advisor Console

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In this final part we cover how Self-Service users can use SCVMM 2012 to deploy VMs to private clouds, how the new Services construct allows deployment and management of a group of VMs as a unit and we conclude with a few final thoughts.

Whilst the concept of self-service users existed in SCVMM 2008 it’s been expanded in this new version. Self-service users can now use either the web based self-service interface (for backward compatibility) or a locked down version of the SCVMM console.

Self-service empowerment in SCVMM 2012

They can create VMs across all three hypervisors through SCVMM and they deploy their VMs to private clouds. Administrators create self-service user roles and assign these to clouds with each user role having specific quotas for their resources. There’s a simple network diagram that self-service users see when they deploy their VM(s) to a cloud. Unlike SCVMM 2008 self-service users can create their own templates and profiles if given permission to do so and they can now also create VMs from building blocks such as VHDs, rather than being limited to administrator provided templates.

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In this part we take a look at how SCVMM 2012 integrates with VMware’s and Citrix’s platforms as well as the new features for patching cluster nodes in a safe way.

There are some key differences in how SCVMM 2012 integrates with VMware’s infrastructure compared to SCVMM 2008. It no longer imports, merges or synchronizes the tree structure from vCenter to SCVMM, instead you manually add ESX servers to any VMM host group.

Integrating SCVMM 2012 with VMware’s platform

When you import a VMware template to the library the .vmdk file is left in the ESX data store and only the metadata is copied to the library. HTTPS is used for all data transfers between ESX hosts and the VMM library which means there’s no longer the need to enable root Secure Shell (SSH) access to ESX hosts to support the Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP).

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This part looks at Bare Metal Configuration of new hardware, cluster creation from within SCVMM 2012 and the new Dynamic Optimization feature for balancing the load in a cluster as well as Power Optimization for automatic shutdown of nodes during low load times.

One really cool feature in System Center Virtual Manager 2012that will be popular in large environments is the concept of provisioning new host hardware without visiting each new server.

Bare Metal Configuration in System Center Virtual Manager 2012

Through integration with Base Board Management (BMC) controllers, Windows Deployment Services (WDS) and the new boot from VHD feature in Windows Server 2008 R2 this magic can happen.

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In this part we see how System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 will make it a LOT easier to manage networks with new automation features, how it integrates with hardware load balancers and SAN storage.

One hassle in System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 and Hyper-V today is the restriction of having to manage networks on a per NIC basis; SCVMM comes to the rescue with new networking features.

Logical networks in System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012

A logical network with one or more logical network definitions groups together IP subnets and VLANs to simplify network management in SCVMM 2012. Typical networks would be backend, frontend, management or backup. When you provision a host or VM you associate it with a logical network and it automatically receives a fixed IP address and mac address. Logical networks can span geographies with one or more logical network definitions for each location. You can also use DHCP instead of controlling IP address allocation through SCVMM if you so desire. Each NIC on a host needs to be associated with a logical network in either trunk or access mode. In the latter only a single VLAN ID is allowed whereas in trunk mode multiple VLAN IDs can be used in different VMs that share the NIC.

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In this part we look at how a private cloud works in SCVMM 2012, how the fabric makes up the underlying components of a cloud and how the library has been improved as well as the new Run As account and Run As profile features.

Maybe it’s just me but when there’s been SO much talk about the cloud in IT over the last year or two and when there’s a button called “Create Cloud” inside a new product it tickles my interest.

Private Cloud in System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012

In SCVMMs terms a cloud provide the following characteristics; self-service to allow administrators to delegate provisioning of VMs in the cloud, resource pooling and opacity because users need no knowledge of the underlying physical hardware. It’s also elastic as it’s easy to add resources to increase capacity and private clouds can contain hosts from all three supported hypervisors, you can even create a SCVMM cloud from a VMware resource pool.

Creating a private cloud in SCVMM is a matter of a simple wizard (and some planning!)

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In this part we’ll do the 10 000 foot view of what’s new in System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 as well as what’s required for installation and some tips around creating a highly available SCVMM environment.

I love when Microsoft takes an already good product and adds a whole lot of new features to make the next version not just better but excellent. This is what’s happening with System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) in its new version: 2012, currently in beta, to be released in the second half of 2011.

The Office Ribbon interface makes its mark in SCVMM 20212

In this article series we’ll take a look at what’s new, what’s improved and introduce the new concepts and capabilities of SCVMM 2012.

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This third part of the Configuration Managger v.Next review covers migration from SCCM 2007, Mobile Device Manager 2008 (MDM) and Role Based Access Control (RBAC).

There’s no in-place upgrade option for going from SCCM 2007 to v.Next. Fortunately Microsoft has built migration tools right into the console to help with the transition.

Migration

In a nutshell the process follows these steps: first your SCCM 2007 environment is evaluated, it has to be at the SP2 level, and then you install your new v.Next hierarchy. At the central site metadata is mapped from the old to the new so that each site is matched to its new counterpart (you’ll have to come up with new site codes, you can’t use the same ones you do today), this synching continues until you turn it off at the end of the migration so as to capture any changes in the SCCM 2007 environment.

All objects are then transitioned over using migration jobs that you can run straightaway, schedule for later or run manually when it suits you.

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This article discusses the new console and the new infrastructure in Microsoft Systems Center Configuration Manager v.Next.

Hands up all sys admins that love the MMC based console in SCCM 2007….. No one? Didn’t think so – it’s known to be slow in large environments.

New console

Whilst I haven’t been able to test the v.Next console in a large business it does seem snappier and easier to work with. The middle, main pane has tabs at the bottom which makes for less expanding and collapsing of the tree structure. Overall the console adopts the Outlook feel and the new “Wunderbar” (official name) in the lower left hand corner features links to Administration, Software Library, Monitoring and Assets and Compliance.

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This part of the SC Configuration Manager v.Next review focuses on User Centric Management (UCM), on the Applications concept and the new deployment types.

Many systems administrators are familiar with Microsoft’s Systems Center Suite, relying on its various components for their day to day jobs. Operations Manager keeps tabs on the health of your infrastructure, Data Protection Manager makes sure all your (Microsoft) workloads are safely backed up, Virtual Machine Manager keeps your virtual servers and hosts in check and Configuration Manager keeps track of computer hardware and installed software.

Systems Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2007 was recently updated with an R3 release which added power management and a few other tweaks. In this article I’ll give an overview of the next major release of SCCM, currently called “v.Next” and explain where Microsoft is taking SCCM. This article is written on beta1; beta2 is expected in January 2011 with RTM possibly sometime mid next year.

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Paul Schnackenburg talks to Jason Buffington, Senior Technical Product Manager at Microsoft and Frederique Dennison, Product Marketing Manager – Security and Management at Microsoft about the Systems Center Suite, Systems Center Configuration Manager vNext, Data Protection Manager (DPM) 2010, Disaster Recovery and backup over the wire, small business backup and the Tech Ed Australia 2010 experience.

PS Congratulations on becoming Technical Product Manager for Systems Center Operations Manager, you’re sort of straddling three products now. That would be a pretty big load?

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Windows Mobile 6.1 was released this year when Microsoft introduced Mobile Device Manager 2008 (MDM 2008). You might wonder why they didn’t just add more functionality to Configuration Manager. I think the reason is that mobile devices and PCs require different management features. Perhaps more functionality would have bloated Configuration Manager.

Microsoft just released MDM 2008 SP1. The main new features are:

• Multiple Instances: More than one instance of Mobile Device Manager
• PIN Reset
• Enrollment Auto Discovery: Matches the user with the correct MDM instance
• Scalability: MDM 2008 SP1 supports up to 40,000 users
• Windows Server 2008 support

You can download the evaluation edition here. There are also some downloads related to MDM SP1, for example, the Resource Kit tools. Marco Nielsen has all the links.