(Post courtesy Anil Malekani)
In this post I’ll explain how to configure Power Management with SCCM 2007 R3. The post is divided in three parts; prerequisites and dependencies, enabling power management on site and clients, and configuring reports for power management.
The power management feature in SCCM 2007 R3 provides the following capabilities:
Prerequisites
Dependencies
1. Install KB977384 on the site server and create a package for deployment to SCCM clients machines.
a. Locate the file SCCM2007-SP2-KB977384-ENU.msi on the SCCM 2007 R3 install media and start installation.
b. During installation it will prompt to create a patch install package for clients. Select the first option to create the package and Press Next.
c. Press Next or modify the package name for the Patch.
d. Press Next twice.
e. Click Finish.
This process will create a package and a program in the SCCM console. Open the console and verify that it is present under packages. Now you can create an advertisement and target the patch install program on a collection of workstations. Make it a mandatory installation and it won’t require a restart on machines.
2. Enable the Power Management Client Agent setting on the Site server.
On the SCCM client workstation, you’ll find the new Power Management Agent component under the Configuration Manager Properties. This will appear only if you have patch KB977384 installed and policy updates have been received from the site server after enabling the power management agent.
3. Enable Power plans for a collection of machines.
a. Right-click a collection of machines and select Modify collection settings.
b. Click on the Power Management tab and select the option to Specify power management settings for the collection.
c. Define Peak hours and select a Peak plan.
d. You may select any of predefined power plans or modify the Customized Peak plan.
e. Similarly for Non-peak plan you may customize the Non-peak power plan and press OK.
1. Make sure SQL Reporting Services component is installed and configured. Use the Reporting Services Configuration tool to configure Reporting Services.
2. Install Reporting Services Point as a new site role in SCCM
3. Specify the Report Folder Name and press Next twice.
4. Go to Reporting Services under Computer Management > Reporting. Right-click the Reporting Services server role and select Copy Reports to Reporting Services.
5. Select Database server name and database instance name for SCCM.
6. Select database authentication method to gain access to connect to database and press Next.
7. Select the second option to Import Reports from a cabinet file, and click Browse.
8. Browse to "%ConfigMgr install folder%\Reports\Power Management" folder and select MicrosoftReportsPack.cab file.
9. This will list all Power Management reports which will be imported.
10. Press Next twice.
11. To view reports, open IE and type URL http://%servername%/Reports.
12. Click on ConfigMgr_%SiteCode% Folder and select Power Management Reports.
These Reports may also be executed from SCCM server console.
(post courtesy Sarkis Derbedrossian)
I often meet Microsoft CRM users who don’t know how sending e-mail works within Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Most users think that when they create an e-mail in CRM and hit the send button, the e-mail is sent automatically. Neither Outlook nor CRM can send e-mails without a post system e.g. Exchange server. Below you will learn how e-mail within CRM works with and without Outlook
Once you've created an e-mail activity in MS CRM and click the Send button to send the e-mail, this mail is handled differently depending on the settings of each user is set to in MS CRM.
E-mail can be handled through Outlook or directly through CRM ... but neither Outlook nor MS CRM can implement the physical handling of the e-mail. This is done by a mail server (Microsoft Exchange Server or another mail system).
Do not make a fast conclusion and think that MS CRM can neither receive nor send e-mail. You should understand that the above task requires an e-mail system to accomplish.
When you send email from MS CRM it usually happens by the following steps:
What if the user does not have the Outlook client open? This will result in the mail will not be sent until the user logs into Outlook. For some situations this can be insufficient. Fortunately installing the e-mail router can solve it.
If you want to be independent of Outlook, and thus could send email directly from MS CRM without using Outlook, this can be done by installing and configuring an E-mail Router.
The e-mail Router is free software that comes with MS CRM. The software can be installed on any server that has access to a Mail Server (Exchange Server or other mail system (POP3/SMTP)) and MS CRM.
When you send email from MS CRM using an E-mail Router it often happens by the following steps
Depending on how you want your organization to send e-mails, remember to check the following settings:
Configuring e-mail access
It is possible to choose one of the following settings from the option list:
None Outlook cannot be used for sending and receiving e-mails which is related to MS CRM
Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook Outlook is responsible for sending / receiving e-mail. Integration with MS CRM for Outlook must be installed and configured. E-mails sent / received only when Outlook is active (open)
E-mail router E-mail is sent and received with MS CRM Email Router. If this element is selected, a dialog box allows entering credentials. Check the box if you want to specify credentials
Forwarded mailbox E-mail forwarded from another e-mail address. The e-mail Router is responsible for sending / receiving e-mails.
In this post I’ll demonstrate how to use System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R3 to create prestaged media, and then prestaging the operating system (OS) image on a fresh hardware using a Task Sequence. Afterwards, we will install the operating system using the prestaged OS media.
This process will create an output WIM file under the location you specified in the Wizard.
Once the WIM file is created, next step is to create an OS Image under Operating System Deployment node.
%SystemRoot%\system32\bootsect.exe /nt60 %OSPartition%
X:\windows\system32\wpeutil.exe shutdown
In Part 3, we created a Task Sequence to prestage an OS Image on a fresh machine. Now in this part we’ll apply an operating system to that machine by using the prestaged media on the disk. By just adding a Condition we can skip the OS Image download process. Prestaged media on creation will set _SMSTSMediaType = OEMmedia and we can use this variable as a condition to be checked before partitioning the disk and downloading OS Image from the distribution point.
This is all you need to change in the Task Sequence used to deploy Operating System to new hardware (with Prestaged OS Image) and it will not download OS Image from the network!
If you are a Microsoft Partner, contact the Partner Technical Services team for presales assistance and advisory services: https://partner.microsoft.com/global/supportsecurity
(post courtesy Priyo Lahiri)
Out of the box, SharePoint 2010 doesn’t have the capability of scheduling a backup. Fortunately, we have the mix of PowerShell script and Windows Task Scheduler to do the job. In reality it’s just a single line script:
Backup-SPFarm –Directory YourBackupDirectory –BackupMethod Full / Differential
How can we make this backup script more special?
The script below will send an email if an error occurrs during the backup with the error description so that every morning (or whatever your backup schedule is) you don’t have to open up Central Admin and see if the backup went fine or not (assuming you check the backup status / integrity…. I know a lot of people who don’t!) and hopefully it gives you an idea on what went wrong.
The PowerShell cmdlet that we can use to send the email is a simple one:
Send-MailMessage -From "someaddress@domain.com" -To "YourEmail@domain.com" -Subject "Error captured" -Body “Error Message Here” -SmtpServer YourSMTPServerFQDN
(more parameters are available for the Send-MailMessage cmdlet here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd347693.aspx)
So I created the simple script below to first see the error message being displayed from PowerShell:
Unfortunately, the error message is not very helpful. It tells me that the backup was not successful but doesn’t give me any pointers as to why. No point sending this to the SharePoint admin. Let’s take a look at the spbrtoc.xml from the backup directory:
<SPHistoryObject> <SPId>376aa7dd-0e79-4e8e-9247-26d5a61949b7</SPId> <SPRequestedBy>LZENG\administrator</SPRequestedBy> <SPBackupMethod>Full</SPBackupMethod> <SPRestoreMethod>None</SPRestoreMethod> <SPStartTime>02/24/2011 18:15:15</SPStartTime> <SPFinishTime>02/24/2011 18:15:41</SPFinishTime> <SPIsBackup>True</SPIsBackup> <SPConfigurationOnly>False</SPConfigurationOnly> <SPBackupDirectory>\\app02\SPBackup\spbr000D\</SPBackupDirectory> <SPDirectoryName>spbr000D</SPDirectoryName> <SPDirectoryNumber>13</SPDirectoryNumber> <SPFailure>Object lz_Admin failed in event OnBackup. For more information, see the spbackup.log or sprestore.log file located in the backup directory.</SPFailure> <SPTopComponent>Farm</SPTopComponent> <SPTopComponentId>d1047b6f-4ff1-4ce4-943b-f54ff5fe44e3</SPTopComponentId> <SPWarningCount>0</SPWarningCount> <SPErrorCount>1</SPErrorCount> </SPHistoryObject>
Now that makes a little more sense, I can now see that the Admin Content Database failed during the back-up. So how about sending this to the SharePoint Admin so that he knows exactly what’s going on? To make this more useful, we will also attach the backup log from the SPBackupDirectory with the email so that the SharePoint admin knows everything he needs to about the error.
Here is how we do it… (in pseudocode)
Read the spbrtoc.xml file and pull up the First <SPHistoryObject> block and get the path of the spbackup.txt from <SPBackupDirectory> and attach it to the email.
Here is a script sample
1: $xmldata = [xml](Get-Content 'C:\SPBackup\spbrtoc.xml') #loading spbrtoc.xml as XML datatype
2:
3: # In the statement below I am getting the block of <SPHistoryObject> where SPErrorCount is more than zero and the #SPHistoryObject was created today and storing it in $Node
4:
5: $Node = $xmldata.SPBackupRestoreHistory.SPHistoryObject | Where-Object {$_.SPErrorCount -gt '0' -and $_.SPStartTime -gt (Get-Date -DisplayHint Date)}
6:
7: # Getting the SPFailure Message and the spBackup.Log path and creating the body of the email
8:
9: $FailureMsg = $Node[0] | % {$_.SPFailure}
10: $Att = ($Node[0] | % {$_.SPBackupDirectory}) + 'spbackup.log'
11: $msgBody = 'An Error occurred while trying to backup your SharePoint Farm. Details : ' + $Failuremsg + '
12: Attached is the Error Log for additional reference.'
13:
14: # Finally sending the email
15:
16: Send-MailMessage -From 'administrator@lzeng.local' -To 'Administrator@lzeng.local' -Subject 'Error Occured in SharePoint Backup' -Body $msgBody -Attachments $att -SmtpServer mail.lzeng.local
And here is the result:
Here is the full script:
1: Clear-Host
2: $Error.Clear()
3: ###################################################################################################
4: #################### POPULATE THE VARIABLES BELOW ##################################################
5: ###################################################################################################
7: $BackupDir = '\\app02\SPBackup' # Your backup directory here. Recommended to use \\server\share
8: # NOTE: DO NOT put '\' after the above path
9: # Ensure SharePoint Timer Service Account and SQL Service Account has Full Control on the above Path
10: # More Information: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee748614.aspx
11:
12: # Variables below required for Sending Email.
13: $FromAccount = 'administrator@lzeng.local' # valid domain account or an account with Send As rights
14: $ToAccount = 'administrator@lzeng.local' # Recipient email address
15: $smtpServer = 'mail.lzeng.local' # SMTP / Exchange / SMTP Relay Agent FQDN
16: # If you need other parameters like CC Field or if you exchange uses SSL refer here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd347693.aspx
17: ######################################### START SCRIPT ##############################################
18:
19: # Start Loading SharePoint Snap-in
20: $snapin = (Get-PSSnapin -name Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell -EA SilentlyContinue)
21: IF ($snapin -ne $null){write-host -f Green "SharePoint Snap-in is loaded... No Action taken"}
22: ELSE { write-host -f Yellow "SharePoint Snap-in not found... Loading now"
23: Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell
24: write-host -f Green "SharePoint Snap-in is now loaded"}
25: # END Loading SharePoint Snapin
26:
27: # Starting Backup
28: Write-Host -f green "Staring Backup process"
29: Backup-SPFarm -Directory $BackupDir -BackupMethod full -BackupThreads 10 -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
30: Write-Host -f green "Exit: Backup process"
31:
32: IF($Error[0] -ne $null){
33: # Loading toc file
34: $xmldata = [xml](Get-Content ($BackupDir +'\spbrtoc.xml'))
35: $Node = $xmldata.SPBackupRestoreHistory.SPHistoryObject | Where-Object {$_.SPErrorCount -gt '0' -and $_.SPStartTime -gt (Get-Date -DisplayHint Date)}
36: # Grab SPFailure Msg and Path to attachment
37: $FailureMsg = $Node[0] | % {$_.SPFailure}
38: $Att = ($Node[0] | % {$_.SPBackupDirectory}) + 'spbackup.log'
39: # Create msgbody
40: $msgBody = 'An Error occurred while trying to backup your SharePoint Farm. Details : ' + $Failuremsg + '
41: Attached is the Error Log for additional reference.'
42:
43: # Send email
44: Send-MailMessage -From $FromAccount -To $ToAccount -Subject 'Error Occured in SharePoint Backup' -Body $msgBody -Attachments $att -SmtpServer $smtpServer }
45:
46: Write-Host -f Green "Operation Complete"
47: ############################################## END SCRIPT ##############################################
A workable script is attached with this post that you can download and use. All you need to do it specify values for the variables below and follow the instructions to create a task in Windows Task Scheduler.
Variables to populate in the script:
$BackupDir = '\\app02\SPBackup' # Your backup directory here. Recommended to use \\server\share
NOTE: DO NOT put '\' after the above path
$FromAccount = 'administrator@lzeng.local' # valid domain account or an account with Send As rights $ToAccount = 'administrator@lzeng.local' # Recipient email address $smtpServer = 'mail.lzeng.local' # SMTP / Exchange / SMTP Relay Agent FQDN
If you need other parameters like CC Field or if you exchange uses SSL refer here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd347693.aspx
Instructions to configure the task:
You are all set.
If you want, you can create 2 copies of this script and change the second one to run Differential backup every night and Full Backup every Sunday or whatever your backup strategy is.
Ok so now you know I can read the xml file from PowerShell which means I can also remove some lines from it and may be have a cleanup script for backup retention and remove all those failed backup listed in the central admin? You are right on… but that’s for the next post.
Stay tuned.
Cheers
-Priyo
(post courtesy Bryan Petersen)
Office 365 is the next iteration of Business Productivity and Online Suite (BPOS). Office 365 will connect the Office desktop suite to the cloud-based versions of our next-generation communication and collaboration services. These are Exchange Online 2010, SharePoint Online 2010, and Lync Online.
With the General Availability date of Office 365 fast approaching, it’s important to begin planning for transitions from BPOS to Office 365 and/or moving customers from on-premise environments to “The Cloud”. This blog post will address some key requirements with the Office 365 release that need to be considered during the planning phase. Also provided are key resources that can be referenced during each step.
Think about the lifecycle of a product/service in the following sequence. With this posting we emphasize the Plan phase to help partners streamline those initial conversations with prospective customers, and help eliminate surprises in the phases that follow.
A. Walk-thru the Office 365 Service Descriptions with your prospective customer.
A good understanding of what each service provides will allow the customer to know what they’re getting in to with Office 365, as well as provide guidance in helping them make decisions throughout the deployment process.
Office 365 Service Descriptions http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=6c6ecc6c-64f5-490a-bca3-8835c9a4a2ea Note: The Appendix section at the end of each Service Description provides a feature comparison between on-premise and online. Note: These are currently in Beta form so some of the details are subject to change. Business Productivity and Online Suite (BPOS) Service Descriptions This information is for comparison purposes to Office 365 only. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=c60c0af0-10cc-4b11-bcef-b989c1f168b0 Note: The Appendix section at the end of each Service Description provides a feature comparison between on-premise and online.
Office 365 Service Descriptions
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=6c6ecc6c-64f5-490a-bca3-8835c9a4a2ea
Note: The Appendix section at the end of each Service Description provides a feature comparison between on-premise and online. Note: These are currently in Beta form so some of the details are subject to change.
Business Productivity and Online Suite (BPOS) Service Descriptions This information is for comparison purposes to Office 365 only.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=c60c0af0-10cc-4b11-bcef-b989c1f168b0
Note: The Appendix section at the end of each Service Description provides a feature comparison between on-premise and online.
B. Review the System Requirements for Office 365.
Office 365 will present a new set of requirements for those customers moving from on-premise to online or transitioning from BPOS-S to Office 365. Some of the key requirements are as follows, focusing on the systems/software that WILL NOT BE SUPPORTED - I start on the systems/software that will not be supported because those requirements are typically overlooked and are the basis for many of those surprises we’re trying to eliminate.
Not Supported
Supported
The complete list of software requirements can be found in the Office 365 online help. http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/en-us/office365-enterprises/ff652534.aspx Note: The information is currently for the Office 365 Beta release so is subject to change by General Availability.
The complete list of software requirements can be found in the Office 365 online help.
http://onlinehelp.microsoft.com/en-us/office365-enterprises/ff652534.aspx
Note: The information is currently for the Office 365 Beta release so is subject to change by General Availability.
Office 365 pricing and fact sheets are publicly available. They can be found off the primary Office 365 site at http://office365.microsoft.com/. Office 365 for Enterprises - http://office365.microsoft.com/en-us/enterprise.aspx Office 365 for Small Businesses - http://office365.microsoft.com/en-us/small-business.aspx Office 365 for Education - http://office365.microsoft.com/en-us/education.aspx
Office 365 pricing and fact sheets are publicly available. They can be found off the primary Office 365 site at http://office365.microsoft.com/.
Office 365 for Enterprises - http://office365.microsoft.com/en-us/enterprise.aspx
Office 365 for Small Businesses - http://office365.microsoft.com/en-us/small-business.aspx
Office 365 for Education - http://office365.microsoft.com/en-us/education.aspx
Office 365 will be generally available in 2011. Expect more communication about Beta plans and General Availability in the weeks to come. The best way to stay in touch is through one/all the following outlets. Office 365 Blog, Office 365 Facebook , and Office 365 Twitter If customers are interested in moving Online, but don’t want to wait for Office 365 they can certainly move to BPOS and then transition to Office 365 when the time comes. There is an excellent resource available to users who are currently using BPOS and need to plan for the transition to Office 365. The Office 365 Transition Center: http://www.microsoft.com/online/transition-center.aspx
Office 365 will be generally available in 2011. Expect more communication about Beta plans and General Availability in the weeks to come. The best way to stay in touch is through one/all the following outlets.
Office 365 Blog, Office 365 Facebook , and Office 365 Twitter
If customers are interested in moving Online, but don’t want to wait for Office 365 they can certainly move to BPOS and then transition to Office 365 when the time comes. There is an excellent resource available to users who are currently using BPOS and need to plan for the transition to Office 365. The Office 365 Transition Center: http://www.microsoft.com/online/transition-center.aspx
Word on how to buy is just around the corner. Customers should begin conversations with their Microsoft Partner’s for focusing on Steps 1-3.
Part of the planning portion of the lifecycle is finding a partner, but for this audience I felt information on how to become an Office 365 partner and providing additional partner ready resources was more important.
Please review the Office 365 Partner Program
http://office365.microsoft.com/en-US/partners.aspx
If you are a Partner, contact Microsoft Partner Technical Services for assistance with planning deployments of Office 365