The Blogcast Repository

Advanced Management Pack Creation Part 2

andydominey — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:12:00 GMT

This guide is a continuation of the Advanced Management Pack Creation Guide. In this guide we will cover using the Authoring Console to create monitors and rules and will then look at these objects in more detail in XML. This is part 2 of a multi-part guide.

Configuring SCCM R2 SQL Reporting Services Role

Brian S. Tucker — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:38:00 GMT

Another great new feature of R2 is the addition of SQL Reporting Services. This rich new tool will allow you to have greater speed and flexibility with your reports. Not only can you convert your reports that come with the standard version of SCCM SP1, but you can also make new reports much easier than previous methods. Since Reporting Services also has a IIS website associated to it, users can subscribe to specific reports and have the report emailed to them rather than going to the website. This is a great advantage with Reporting Services. The video demonstrates how to setup Reporting Services in SQL 2005, add the role in the SCCM admin Console, copy the current reports into Reporting Services and takes a look at the new web page. While I do not demonstrate in this video how to make a new report, simply right click the server name and choose “New Report” and you will see how easy it is to create dynamic reports which were much more cumbersome previously. I also strongly suggest you refer to Microsoft’s SCCM Library for SQL Reporting Services in R2. NOTE: Do not ever use SQL 2008 with SCCM 2007. The next version of SCCM is designed to function with SQL 2008.

Deploying Office 2007 with SCCM

Brian S. Tucker — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 10:11:00 GMT

Deploying Office 2007 with a custom transform (.MSP) is a complex task due to all the possible configurations. To create the transform, you need to install the AdminTemplates.exe and then copy the admin folder to the Office 2007 CD source folder to open the custom configuration tool which is what saves the configurations to the .MSP file. The video shows how to make the configurations and setup the package and deploy it to a workstation.While the video shows the install visible, there are also ways to deploy the application silently so the end user is unaware of the package being installed. Despite the method you choose, the .MSP will hold all the configurations you will need to standardize your deployment as well as removal of previous versions of office. The video is about 30 minutes and covers all the tasks you need to deploy Office in your organization.Here is a link to the command line options and you can download the AdminTemplates.exe here.

Introduction to SCCM 2007 R2

Brian S. Tucker — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 01:31:00 GMT

Now that SCCM R2 is available, we should discuss the features associated with the upgrade. R2 has a few key features that were once available in SMS 2003 as a Feature Pack (such as Client Health Monitoring) and also some new functionality that was not available in SMS 2003 SP3. The Level 5 video is an introduction to R2 and the features included with the update. In order to obtain and install R2, you have to purchase a license and if you don’t, you will lose out on some great features. The key features of R2 are integration with Application Virtuilization (App-V), Forefront Client Security Integration, SQL Reporting Services (a new role in SCCM), Client Status Reporting which is a much improved version of the SMS 2003 Client Health Reporting Tool (which I show you how to configure and import the reporting MOF file for canned reports) and finally OSD enhancements.

The ability to utilize these new (or updated) features makes the value of SCCM R2 very valuable to your organization. The video shows the installation procedures along with the new features you see immediately once it’s installed. I will make a video for each section in the near future with a strong attention to App-V as this is a HUGE investment to SCCM. You should be aware that App-V can now be inventoried by basic hardware inventory even though the application runs in the sandbox (or “bubble”) as some refer to.

Here is a link to the eval version of R2 which can ONLY be used with an eval version of SCCM. The evaluation version of R2 will last 180 days, but can be upgraded with a license key once purchased. There is a lot more to come in the near future in the Level 5 SCCM Guide.

The video is 33 minutes, so enjoy as always!

Deploying and Configuring a Secondary Site

Brian S. Tucker — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 02:20:00 GMT

Secondary sites are used for many reasons and can only report to a primary server in the hierarchy. A secondary site can be used at smaller sites that don't require the power of a primary or have a smaller number of systems to manage. Also, one of the great things about a secondary is when you have a very saturated WAN link between sites, you can configure an address which will allow you to determine the package priority times and how much of the bandwidth will be (or can be) used during specific hours and or days of the week. Secondary sites have less roles available to you and in the video I demonstrate how to setup initial configurations to prep for the secondary site, deploy the secondary site, how to monitor the Bootstrap service and where the logs are located. After the install, we configure the site and validate that the site is "Active" on the primary above. If you find your primary showing that the secondary is pending after a long while, there may be something configured incorrectly. Here is a great link to Microsoft's technical library for more information on secondary sites. As always, my videos are not short as this one runs about 58 minutes. Post comments and or questions below. Enjoy!

Implementing Data Compression in SQL Server 2008

Edwin M. Sarmiento — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 15:39:00 GMT

This video demonstrates how to estimate storage space savings and how to implement data compression in SQL Server 2008. Data compression reduces the size of tables, indexes or a subset of their partitions resulting in reduced the storage costs and increased query performance by reducing I/O and increasing buffer-hit rates

Deploying OSD Task Sequence to Existing Clients Using the USMT

Brian S. Tucker — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:09:00 GMT

Having a Task Sequence that does all your work for you is a tough job at times and depending on how many hardware platforms you have will determine how long it takes to make and test your Task Sequence. In this video I demonstrate how to advertise an existing Task Sequence to a live SCCM client in the domain. The process will take you through the end users perspective of what he or she will potentially expect to see during the entire process. After the system is rebuilt, we look at the SCCM report and also view the graph to validate that the process completed successfully. Although the link to Microsoft's Library on "Task Sequence Variables" is in the other video, I have added it here as well. Also, if you have not seen the other video where I create and show the various steps in my Task Sequence, you can download the exported .XML from this location.

Using your Task Sequence for Bare Metal PXE Boot

Brian S. Tucker — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:52:00 GMT

In the previous video I show how to create a Task Sequence which will be able to be used by PXE boot for Bare Metal deployments. In this video I show what needs to be setup and running to allow the PXE boot, associating a new PC to a collection and advertising the task Sequence to the collection. I also show you all the steps you will see during the PXE boot process and each step of the TS as it's applied to our Bare Metal machine. We also take a look at how to use the commend line function to copy the log file to the server for our review and view the report that shows the status of the deployment process. After each step of the TS is processed, it's status is uploaded to the SCCM server and you can refresh at any given time to see the status. Once you have validated that your TS works on each of your systems, you can then deploy to production. Runtime for this video is approximately 28:00 minutes.

Building a Task Sequence using USMT

Brian S. Tucker — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:17:00 GMT

I know a lot of people have questions and want to know exactly HOW to make a solid Task Sequence (TS). Depending on your needs, each organizations TS will be different. The goal is to have a TS that will work in almost any situation for almost any hardware and or software platform. In the TS I build / explain in this video, you can do a lot to get yourself off the ground and running. The TS is great because you can use it for 2 types of deployment. The TS can be used for a PXE boot and also advertised to an existing client where the USMT copies the user profiles off the machine to the USMT point and then drops the profiles and files back to the new rebuilt OS. I have made a video for PXE boot with this TS and also a video on how to use the TS for an existing client using the USMT. I have exported the TS into a .XML file for you to import into your environment to play with and or use. You can find the .XML in this link. Simply click the download link and copy all the text and save as a .XML file for import. Also, there are a lot of variables that are used in my TS and ones that you will use in your own TS. Here is a link to Microsoft's Library where they explain in general detail what they are and how the variables are used in various sections of your TS. Let me know in the comments if you have questions. The video is about 41:00 minutes long, so sit back and enjoy!

SCCM Software Updates Part 3 - Deploying Updates and XP SP3

Brian S. Tucker — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:46:00 GMT

In this video we take a look at how we could deploy a large number of updates at once. However, since many of the updates are included in Windows XP SP3, we will deploy SP3 and look at the process and will cover the following topics:

· Download SP3 and create a new Deployment Package

· Advertise the package to 2 Windows XP SP2 workstations

· Based on the Deployment Template we configured in an earlier video, we can see what the end user experiences based on the configuration of the Deployment Template

· Validation of installation

SCCM Software Updates Part 2 - The Beginning Process

Brian S. Tucker — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:29:00 GMT

Now that we have learned about some of the various areas of Software Updates, now it’s time to get our hands a bit dirty and do some work. In this video I cover the following topics:

· Creating a collection structure for patching. When planning collections for application and or Operating System patches, you should consider how they will interact with your Deployment Templates.

· How to create a template. Templates determine the behavior the system receives before and after patches are delivered. Templates also determine how the end user experiences the process.

· How to create and use Search folders. These are valuable if you know how to use them correctly.

· How to select / exclude updates for download to your source directory.

· Why and how you should create a well thought out source directory structure for your updates.

· How to deal with patches that don’t download properly and re-download and associate with the original Deployment Package.

· Accepting License terms for update patches.

SCCM Software Updates Part 1 - General Overview

Brian S. Tucker — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 22:26:00 GMT

Since we have now configured our SUP role, it's time to learn all about Software Updates and what all the different sections mean and how they work. Here is the link to Microsoft's Library for the Software Update section to assist you even further. If you need help troubleshooting Software Updates, you can use this link here as well.

Software Updates allows you to know which computers in your organization need either application or operating system patches. This video guides you in a high level demonstration of the different sections and what each section does. There are several parts to this topic and I encourage you to start at the beginning and work your way through the following videos to see how to use this section of the SCCM admin console. Note: in this overview, we do not cover the use of SMS 2003 clients using the SCCM version of the ITMU. This will be covered in a later video. Enjoy!

Advanced Management Pack Creation Part 1

andydominey — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:57:00 GMT

At some point, it will be necessary to create an advanced management pack. This can be accomplished using the Authoring Console and raw XML. In this guide we will cover using the Authoring Console to create basic management pack objects and we will also look at viewing a management pack in raw XML. This is part 1 of a multi-part guide.

Adding the SUP Role to a Primary Server without SSL in Mixed Mode

Brian S. Tucker — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:12:00 GMT

In the last video we looked at how to install the Software Update Point (SUP) role to a separate server than the primary. This is done when you have a large number of clients and you need to off-set the role to reduce the strain on the SCCM server. However, in a smaller site you may want to consolidate and have your WSUS SP1 server on the same server as SCCM. The problem that stems from that is clients can be confused when you have your MP and WSUS SP1 on the same TCP port 80 and SSL 443. If you are running in Native mode, you MUST have a certificate to use WSUS; however, if you are in mixed mode, you simply need to have the proper ports so that clients don't clash on port 80. This is the simplest way I know of to configure WSUS SP1 without SSL and a GPO template.

Multi-server Query Execution

Edwin M. Sarmiento — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:15:00 GMT

Have you ever wanted to execute a query on as many SQL Server instances as possible only once? This video will demonstrate how you can use SQL Server 2008 Management Studio to run a query across multiple instances making tasks like server configuration, generating reports and configuration comparison as easy as you can imagine.

Working with TSQL Debugger

Edwin M. Sarmiento — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 15:25:00 GMT

This video demonstrates the TSQL Debugging feature in SQL Server 20008. If you have used Visual Studio before, you'll find the the debugging process very similar as SQL Server Management Studio is just a Visual Studio shell. You'll be able to step thru your TSQL code line-by-line, showing you the current state of your code and variables, set breakpoints at certain lines of codes to tell the debugger to pause, and so much more.

Working with Table-Valued-Parameters (TVP)

Edwin M. Sarmiento — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:11:00 GMT

This video demonstrates the use of table-valued parameter in SQL Server 2008. Table-valued parameters (TVP) are a new parameter type in SQL Server 2008. Table-valued parameters are declared by using user-defined table types. You can use table-valued parameters to send multiple rows of data to a Transact-SQL statement or a routine, such as a stored procedure or function, without creating a temporary table or many parameters.

Use the accompanying TSQL script and C# 3.5 client application to better understand how simple it is to create and use TVPs

Exploring the MERGE statement

Edwin M. Sarmiento — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 23:53:00 GMT

This video demonstrates the concepts behind the use of the MERGE statement in SQL Server 2008. The MERGE statement in SQL Server 2008 is a new DML statement that combines multiple DML operations. It performs INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE operations on a target table based on the results of a join with a source table. This statement enables you to merge two tables based on a set of criteria. You can use the demo script to try it out

Configuring Notifications and Subscriptions

andydominey — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 06:54:00 GMT

When using OpsMgr, it is often necessary to configure notifications such as e-mails alerts or instant messages to draw attention to issues identified by the product. In this guide we will cover the process of enabling notifications in OpsMgr and show you how to configure e-mail alerting to a recipient. In addition, we will also look in more detail at alert subscriptions and show you how, using a PowerShell script, you can configure single alerts to send to an e-mail address.

Creating a Basic Management Pack

andydominey — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 18:51:00 GMT

No doubt at some point you will need to create some custom monitoring objects to augment those supplied in the vendor management packs. With that in mind, this video shows you how to create a management pack using the Operations Console and how to create basic management pack objects. In this guide we look at creating a basic service monitor and a view to show the data generated by that monitor.

In another video, we show you how to create advanced objects in a management pack and how to edit the management pack in the Authoring Console tool and in raw XML.

Using Run As Accounts and User Roles to Secure OpsMgr 2007

andydominey — Sat, 31 May 2008 11:16:00 GMT

In MOM 2005, configuring different levels of security was accomplished using Console Scopes. This functionality was somewhat limited however. OpsMgr 2007 offers far more granularity of configuration with User Roles enabling the Operations Console access rights to be tailored to individuals and teams as required.

In addition, Run As Accounts can be used by OpsMgr to carry out monitoring and tasks without the need for assigning elevated privileges to the OpsMgr accounts

This guide covers the creation and validation of User Roles and the use of Run As Accounts and Run As Profiles.

Windows Server 2008 - Server Core Installation and a Peak at Core Configurator

David M. Stein — Thu, 29 May 2008 14:58:00 GMT

This session walks you through installing Server Core and shows some tips about things like regedit, task manager, notepad and installing and using the free "Core Configurator" by Guy Teverovsky

Using Synthetic Transactions

andydominey — Thu, 29 May 2008 09:02:00 GMT

In addition to OpsMgr's ability to monitor at the component level and provide distributed application mapping capabilities, it also provides a powerful synthetic transaction engine out of the box. As well as synthetically monitoring Exchange and Active Directory as previous versions did, it now includes the ability to configure custom OLE DB, TCP Port and Web Application transactions to validate that your application and/or system is online and responding correctly.
This guide covers the creation of these transactions and shows you how to customize the settings of the web application monitor and how to record a web session. In addition, it also covers the process for adding your synthetic transactions to a distributed application.

How to Properly Upgrade from SCCM Base to SP1

Brian S. Tucker — Wed, 28 May 2008 04:38:00 GMT

Upgrading to SCCM SP1 requires more than the expected configurations. You need to make sure you have a proper backup and have backed up some of the existing files before the upgrade. The guide shows what files to backup and the proper prerequisite checks required before upgrading the site server. The video is well in depth and runs almost 42 minutes compared to some other videos on the Internet. I have taken several steps to make sure you have all the information you need to “properly” upgrade your central server and those sites below in the SCCM hierarchy. Despite your desire or need to upgrade to SP1, the prerequisite checker will advise you on updates you may not know are available to you. I strongly advise you to follow the instructions in the video and at “minimal” install the updates required so that the base configuration of SCCM and the consoles run properly. To download SCCM SP1, Click Here to get started!

Creating a Distributed Application

andydominey — Mon, 26 May 2008 18:01:00 GMT

OpsMgr is designed around Service Oriented monitoring meaning that not only are servers monitored, but also the components that they are composed of such as hard disks and applications. OpsMgr provides the ability to map out your line of business applications in the form of Distributed Applications. This guide covers the process for creating both a basic and a more complex Distributed Application and also looks at how to display the newly created DA correctly using custom Diagram Views in the Operations Console.