Infrastructure Blog

Is Your Configuration Manager 07 R2? Let’s Check

TechV1 — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 06:19:24 GMT

R2 in configuration manager 07 is a very light weight update.

After upgrading to Configuration Manager 07, would you like to see if it has really upgraded to R2. Follow the steps below:

Open Configuration Manager 2007 console
Expand site database > site management > right click properties , you would now now see the below screen, check for marked, it should display ‘R2 Installed’ ‘Yes’, however the version would remain the same as SP1

Virtual Machine Collection - Configuration Manager 2007 SP1

TechV1 — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:40:57 GMT

Its been a while since I’ve blogged, after a long break I’m trying to catch up with blogging. Here is a configuration post in system center configuration manager 2007 sp1.

I spent sometime discovering the right query to be used for creating this collection, its helpful for the IT Pros who use SCCM and do a lot of Virtualization.

In this post we'll walkthrough creation of collection in configuration manager 2007 SP1 that would discover all Hyper-V based VM's:

Open Configuration Manager 2007 Management Console
Collapse Computer Management
Collapse Collections
Right Click Collection, hit New Collection, now follow the instruction in the screenshot below
At the first screen in the wizard specify the name of the collection. (in my case 'All Virtual Machines'). Hit Next.

Click 'Query Rule Properties'

Click "Edit Query Statement' tab

Click on 'Select' and select 'System Devices - Hardware IDs' from the drop down menu > Drop the' operator' menu and select 'is equal to' > Drop the 'Value' menu and select 'APCI\VMBus, *VMBus' as the string value

Click 'OK' all through. You should now see a new collection created under collections.

Right Click on the new collection (All Virtual Machines in my case) and update collection membership. Wait for few minutes, it'll fill the collection with all discovered VM's.

Hope this was helpful!!!

Operations Manager 2007 Health Service Terminated [error 2147500037 (0x80004005)]

TechV1 — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 19:10:00 GMT

System logs under event viewer would show the below event

Log Name:      System
Source:        Service Control Manager
Date:          8/26/2008 9:06:36 PM
Event ID:      7024
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      MS-WS2008.VMDOM.local
Description:
The OpsMgr Health Service service terminated with service-specific error 2147500037 (0x80004005).
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
    <Provider Name="Service Control Manager" Guid="{555908D1-A6D7-4695-8E1E-26931D2012F4}" EventSourceName="Service Control Manager" />
    <EventID Qualifiers="49152">7024</EventID>
    <Version>0</Version>
    <Level>2</Level>
    <Task>0</Task>
    <Opcode>0</Opcode>
    <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
    <TimeCreated SystemTime="2008-08-26T15:36:36.000Z" />
    <EventRecordID>19674</EventRecordID>
    <Correlation />
    <Execution ProcessID="0" ThreadID="0" />
    <Channel>System</Channel>
    <Computer>MS-WS2008.VMDOM.local</Computer>
    <Security />
</System>
<EventData>
    <Data Name="param1">OpsMgr Health Service</Data>
    <Data Name="param2">2147500037 (0x80004005)</Data>
</EventData>
</Event>

Solution

Enable ETL Verbose Logging from the \Program Files\System Center Operations Manager\Tools Directory by running StartTracing.cmd VER (it is case sensitive)
Start the OpsMgr Health Service. It'll fail.
Turn off ETL Verbose Logging from the \Program Files\System Center Operations Manager\Tools Directory by running StopTracing.cmd
Evaluate the ETL Logs for Health Service

In my case this key was missing:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\HealthService\Parameters\State Directory.

It should point to the location in which the agent is installed and the Health Service State subdirectory (\Program Files\System Center Operations Manager\Health Service State). If it is not modify the key. If the key is not present, add the key.

Also check for the following registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\HealthService\Parameters\Management Group\<Management Group Name Here>\Windows AccountLockDownSD.

If the WindowsAccoundLockDownSD is not present, export is from a running machine and import is to the bad machine. You could also import it from the operations manager server (this is what I tried).

Start the OpsMgr Health Service, it should start at point.

Hyper-V Best Practices - Quick Tips (2)

TechV1 — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 18:25:50 GMT

Best Practices for Configuring Virtual Machines

In continuation to my first post on best practices, I'm back with some more.

This post discusses best practices that should be considered when configuring virtual machines in Hyper-V. Virtual machine performance is not only impacted by how the physical server is configured but also by the selections made when configuring the virtual machine itself.

Install Integration Services
The first, and probably the most important, best practice for virtual machines is to install the Integration Services (IS) that come with Hyper-V as soon as possible provided the operating system running in the virtual machine is supported (refer to the Integration Services section for information on supported Guests). Then, update the IS as needed.

Uninstall VMAdditions and Compact VHDs
When migrating virtual machines from Virtual PC or Virtual Server 2005 R2, uninstall the VMAdditions and compact the virtual hard disk before moving the disk to the Hyper-V server.

Set Display for Best Performance
For the best display in a virtual machine ensure the display interface is set for Best Performance. This will ensure the hardware acceleration is set to Full.

Configure Fixed-Size VHDs
Choose to configure fixed-size virtual hard disks as opposed to dynamically expanding. Performance is faster, the file system is less likely to fragment and managing space on the physical disk is easier. Always defragment a physical disk before creating a virtual hard disk.

Use SCSI Virtual Adapters for Data Drives
Hyper-V requires the virtual machine to boot from a virtual IDE Controller, however, SCSI virtual adapters can be used after that for mounting additional virtual hard disks. While performance differences between a virtual IDE and a virtual SCSI controller in Hyper-V is almost negligible (with Integration Services installed), the fact is more and larger capacity virtual hard disks can be attached to a virtual SCSI controller (4 controllers with 64 virtual disks each for a total of 256). So, if you need more than four virtual hard disks attached to a virtual machine, use a virtual SCSI controller.

Allocate CPU Resources Based on Anticipated Usage
It is also important to determine virtual machine performance to ensure CPU resource allocation on the physical server is adequate to support the workload inside the virtual machine.

Consider Using Pass-Through Disks
It is best practice to use virtual hard disks when creating virtual machine. However it is no always possible due to circumstances. Using pass-through disks the performance is slightly better versus using VHD's. It allows you leverage greater than 2TB. Very important, when using pass-through disks, virtual machine configuration files should be relocated to another hard disk or share. Here we loose the snapshot and portability of like in VHD's.

Ensure File Share High Availability
If a file share is being used to store virtual machine configuration data, it is best practice to ensure the file share is highly available.

Configure Domain Controllers to Optimize Performance
Domain Controllers are supported in Hyper-V when running in a virtual machine. The following best practices are recommended for these configurations: Never save state in a domain controller as this may cause synchronization issues in the domain. Never Pause a domain controller virtual machine for long periods of time as this may adversely impact replication. Always shutdown a domain controller. Do not take snapshots of a domain controller. Make a determination regarding time synchronization. The decision is either to use the Hyper-V Integration Service for Time Synchronization or not. If the decision is to treat the virtualized DCs like hardware based DCs, then disable the Time Synchronization capability in the Settings for each virtual machine and point the PDC Emulator to an external time source and allow all the other DCs to synchronize with the PDC Emulator. If the decision is to synchronize with the Parent partition, only enable the Time Synchronization capability for the DC holding the PDC Emulator FSMO Role.

Shared Storage for Hyper-V

TechV1 — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 23:19:00 GMT

We know that Hyper-V supports migration of virtual machines between physical hosts. To migrate virtual machines independently, each virtual machine must be stored on its own SAN storage LUN or copy would require you to use BITS over the Ethernet network.

Else if you would like to keep your virtual machine on a common storage and provide access to all available host you require clustered file system.

Sanbolic offers shared storage solution for Hyper-V, there is no need to create a separate LUN for each virtual machine, while providing the ability to migrate virtual machines independently.

Microsoft.com Powered by Hyper-V

TechV1 — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:27:00 GMT

Hyper-V is Rolling..!

Microsoft.com another huge asset is now powered by Hyper-V, it is showcased today in Rob Emanuel's post on Windows Server Division blog.

Hyper-V Performance Information

TechV1 — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:30:00 GMT

Here are some nice performance information at this blog on Hyper-V

http://blogs.msdn.com/tvoellm/archive/tags/Hyper-V/default.aspx

Hyper-V Best Practices - Quick Tips (1)

TechV1 — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 21:19:00 GMT

Best Practices for Physical Servers

Before setting up a physical server to host Hyper-V Role, download, read and understand information included in the white paper "Performance Tuning Guidelines for Windows Server 2008"

Avoid Overloading the Server
Ensure High Speed Access to Storage
Avoid Mixing Virtual Machines that can and cannot use Integration Services
Configure Anti-Virus to Bypass Hyper-V Processes and Directories
Avoid Storing System Files on Drives used for Hyper-V Storage
Monitor Performance to Optimize and Manage Server Loading

I'll be back with more best practices keep watching the blog....

Hyper-V is Here....

TechV1 — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:41:00 GMT

LETS GO VIRTUAL...! Long awaited release, finally arrives. Microsoft launches Hyper-V today on 26-June-2008. Download Hyper-V

It'll be available via windows updates on 08-July-2008.

Videos

Hyper-V hits RTM interview with Mike Neil

Hyper-V Part 1 - Architecture - Interview with PMs

Hyper-V Part 2 - VM Snapshots - Interviews with PMs

Interview with Windows Server 2008 Virtualization program managers

To help customers and partners assess weather their existing servers are good candidates for virtualization using Hyper-V, Microsoft has released the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 3.1 beta. MAP on TechNet

If you are wondering when you would see the next patch release of VMM 2008 beta to play with Hyper-V RTM, read this bolg:

http://blogs.technet.com/rakeshm/archive/2008/06/26/hyper-v-is-released-and-what-that-means-for-scvmm-beta.aspx

Terminal Services Application Compatibility

TechV1 — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:20:51 GMT

Now available at the Connect site. This tool was released as beta sometime back, I came across while I was browsing through the connection directory few days back, I thought it would be useful for lot of IT Pro's.

TS Application Compatibility is aimed at creating tools, guidelines and an eco-system for improving the reliability of applications on terminal services.

What is Application Compatibility for TS?

Application Compatibility is the term given to the collection of issues which prevent an application from executing satisfactorily in a given environment. In this specific instance, the environment is the Windows Terminal Services (TS) Platform. TS is deployed for a variety of reasons such as reducing total cost of operation (TCO), better security & compliance, enabling mobility, etc.

Following are the different types of Problems faced by client applications on a TS environment:

It is observed that client applications are generally written for a single user. TS server being a multiuser system, may cause synchronization problems.
Some of the applications are written with the assumption that the binaries are running with administrator privileges. On TS, a normal user is rarely given administrative privileges.
Behaviour of some of the APIs is different in TS server environment than a client OS environment, this may cause the program to get unexpected results from some of the OS calls.

TS Application Analyzer

TS Application Analyzer is a runtime program analysis tool to enable administrators/users to determine if they can deploy an application on TS with a degree of confidence. It provides a summary of TS incompatible behavior of an application and provides recommendation indicating the confidence level for deploying the application on TS. The classes of App Compat issues that are being targeted for detection are:

Shared resources – Files/registries
Access/Privilege issues
Windows API calls with special cases for TS

The tool does the following:

Enables the administrators to analyze test runs on the given binary
Decides whether the binary will face any problems when deployed on TS. If yes, finds out the type of the problem and its severity.
Presents this information in a readable format and summarizes the findings along with a recommendation.
The findings can be exported and analyzed viewed at some other machine.
The tool can be deployed on a set of user machines or test machine (running the client OS OR the TS server OS) seamlessly. The findings can be gathered at the administrators machine. The administrator goes through the findings on all the machines and then makes a decision whether the application can be deployed on TS or not.

To Download visit the Connect site and follow the simple steps:

Step 1: Logon to the connect site and visit the connection directory

Step 2: Apply for this connection and it will be added to your

Step 3: Visit your dashboard and you find the connection

Step: 4 Once you are at the connection home page it'll allow you to download from the left

You can also download the TS Application Analyzer Guide at the bottom of home page