How to: Directly install from a distribution point during OSD in ConfigMgr 2012 R2

During a OS deployment with ConfigMgr 2012 R2, the WIM file is downloaded locally and than installed on the C: drive of your system. The download proces for the install.wim file takes a while! This post will discribe how to configure the task sequence to directly apply the install.wim from the distribution point.

1.) Open the task sequence and select the step “Apply Operating System”. Navigate to the “Options” tab.
2.) Select “Access content directly from the distribution point” and select “Apply”
3.) Navigate to your Operating System Images and select the properties of the image
4.) Navigate to the “Data Access” tab
5.) Select “Copy the content in this package to a package share on distribution points”
6.) Select “Apply”
7.) The install.wim file will be copied to the SMSPKGE$ folder on your distribution point
8.) Right click on the image and select “Update Distribution Points”
9.) Wait until the content status is “Success”
10.) Start a deployment of a system
11.) The download step is gone now and the image will be installed directly from the distribution point

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Powershell Deployment Toolkit GUI available

Working with System Center products is one of my favorite things!! A great solution I’m using is the Powershell Deployment Toolkit (PDT). The PowerShell Deployment Toolkit (PDT) is a set of scripts and knowledge for automated deployment of System Center 2012 SP1/R2, including SQL all prerequisites, and all automatable post-setup integration. PDT is written by Rob Willis.

Download the Powershell Deployment Toolkit (PDT) here.

Because Powershell Deployment Toolkit contains some Powershell scripts and XML files, this is not a easy thing for everyone! To make this powershell scripts just more powerfull, the Powershell Deployment Toolkit GUI is created!! This is a graphical user interface for the Powershell Deployment Toolkit. The original PDT is created and maintained by Rob Willis from Microsoft Corporation. The PDT GUI is created and maintained by German Microsoft Partner ‘Elanity Network Partner GmbH’ and is not an official Microsoft Product. The PDT GUI helps to create fast PDT Configuration-Files (Variable.xml) for Zero Touch System Center Deployments. PDT GUI creates and validates the configuration files for PDT, it does not alter the existing PDT in any way. An installed PDT is neccessary for a succesful PDT Deployment.

Download the Powershell Deployment Toolkit GUI here.

Benedict Berger (Hyper-V MVP and Hybrid Cloud Geek) and Kamil Kosek (Powershell Geek and Automation IT Pro) teamed up end created this free tool. Special credits to this guys, great job!!

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Free webinar Cisco UCS, Veeam and Nimble on 23th of April

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On the 23th of April Veeam is going to hold an interesting FREE webinar (Veeam and Cisco UCS) – “A modern approach to building and protecting your virtualization infrastructuur”.

Demands for better storage performance, scalability, improved data protection and simplicity are growing in today’s datacenters. With the right components and configuration, you can deliver efficient computing, networking and storage, with powerful, easy-to-use and affordable data protection.

Join this webinar to see how Cisco UCS, Nimble Storage and Veeam Backup & Replication can provide:

◾Unified and embedded management of all software and hardware components
◾Flash-optimised hybrid storage performance
◾High performance backups, restores and flexible design
◾Reduce cost and protect virtualization investments
◾And more!

You can register for this FREE webinar here.

How to: Find MAC addresses using PowerShell

Today I had to install a new System Center Configuration Manager 2012 R2 environment. One of the features this customer is going to use is OS Deployment. In this environment we are using the Build & Capture task sequence voor deploying a Master Image of Windows 8.1. The Master Images will be deployed in Hyper-V. One of the important steps is to import the “Master VM” into the ConfigMgr database. Two things you’ve to know are….PC name and the MAC address. With this PowerShell command you can find all the MAC addresses very easy!

1.) Open Microsoft PowerShell on your Hyper-V server
2.) First list all the VM’s
Get-VM
3.) List the name of the VM, MAC address, Virtual Switch name and IP address

get-vm -Name SC2012R2-PC0002 | select -ExpandProperty networkadapters | select vmname, macaddress, switchname, ipaddresses

4.) Import the VM into ConfigMgr

 

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The Hydration Kit for ConfigMgr 2012 R2 is available for download

If you want to save some time installing all the System Center 2012 R2 products within your production environment or demo lab environment, the HydrationKit is just the way to go!! System Center guru Johan Arwidmark has created a fully automated installation upon MDT 2013! Within just a few minutes, you’re ready to rock!!

Download the HydrationKit for System Center 2012 R2

Special thanks to Johan!! Please visit his blog at http://www.deploymentresearch.com and leave a message for him!!

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Windows Server 2012 R2 Private Cloud Virtualization and Storage Poster and Mini-Posters

Yesterday Microsoft released the Windows Server 2012 R2 Private Cloud Virtualization and Storage Poster and Mini-Posters. This includes overviews over Hyper-V, Failover Clustering, Scale-Out File Server, Storage Spaces and much more. These posters provide a visual reference for understanding key private cloud storage and virtualization technologies in Windows Server 2012 R2. They focus on understanding storage architecture, virtual hard disks, cluster shared volumes, scale-out file servers, storage spaces, data deduplication, Hyper-V, Failover Clustering, and virtual hard disk sharing.

Bedsides the overview poster, Microsoft Includes the following Mini-Posters:

•Virtual Hard Disk and Cluster Shared Volumes Mini Poster
•Virtual Hard Disk Sharing Mini Poster
•Understanding Storage Architecture Mini Poster
•Storage Spaces and Deduplication Mini Poster
•Scale-Out and SMB Mini Poster
•Hyper-V and Failover Clustering Mini Poster

You can get the posters from the Microsoft download page.

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How to: Create a VM within a few second in Hyper-V 2012 R2

In some cases I’ve to create multiple VM’s within my Hyper-V environment. You can choose to create and configure each VM manually, but you can also use PowerShell. Now you can see how powerfull PowerShell really is! I’ve created multiple VM’s within a few seconds and ready to rock! I’ve created the following script. The only thing you’ve to do, is changing some variables 🙂

In this example the script will create a new VM named RES-MGN01. The VM will be configured with 2 GB, using Dynamic Memory. The VM is using a differencing disk (VHDK) with a Windows Server 2012 R2 sysprepped parent VHDX, placed on an SSD disk (P: drive) in my server. The virtual switch the VM is connected to, is named NIC – WAN.

$VMName = “RES-MGN01”
$VMMemMaxBytes = 2048MB
$VHDXName = “OS.vhdx”
$VMMemStartup = 512MB
$VMMemMinBytes = 512MB
$VMPath = “E:\”
$VHDParent = “P:\Hyper-V Parents\TMPL-W2012R2DC\Virtual Hard Disks\TMPL-W2012R2DC.vhdx”
$VMSwitchName = “NIC – WAN”

New-VM -Name $VMName -Path $VMpath$VMName -Generation 2 -SwitchName $VMSwitchName

Set-VM -Name $VMName -DynamicMemory -MemoryStartupBytes 512MB -MemoryMinimumBytes $VMMemMinBytes -MemoryMaximumBytes $VMMemMaxBytes

New-VHD -ParentPath $VHDParent -Path $VMPath\$VMName\$VMName\$VHDXName -Differencing

Add-VMHardDiskDrive -VMName $VMName -Path $VMPath\$VMName\$VMName\$VHDXName

Add-VMDvdDrive -VMName $VMName

Start-VM -Name $VMName

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Free ebook: Introducing Microsoft System Center 2012 R2

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Microsoft System Center is one of the three pillars of Microsoft’s Cloud OS vision that will transform the traditional datacenter environment, help businesses unlock insights in data stored anywhere, enable the development of a wide range of modern business applications, and empower IT to support users who work anywhere while being able to manage any device in a secure and consistent way. The other two pillars of the Cloud OS are, of course, Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows Azure, and Microsoft Press has recently released free Introducing books on these platforms as well.

Whether you are new to System Center or are already using it in your business, this book has something that should interest you. The capabilities of each component of System Center 2012 R2 are first described and then demonstrated chapter by chapter. Real-world and under-the-hood insights are also provided by insiders at Microsoft who live and breathe System Center, and those of you who are experienced with the platform will benefit from the wisdom and experience of these experts. We also included a list of additional resources at the end of each chapter where you can learn more about each System Center component.

Download the PDF – here