Enable RSAT on Windows Server 2008 R2 for Hyper-V

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Thomas Maurer

With the Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) you can administrate the Server with remote consoles. Now you can download the Remote Server Administration Tools for Windows 7, but if you are on Windows Server 2008 R2 you can just enable the tools per ServerManagerCmd.exe.


ServerManagerCmd -install RSAT-Hyper-V
ServerManagerCmd -install RSAT-Clustering

Automated Active Directory Deployment with PowerShell

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Thomas Maurer

For a small presentation at KTSI I created a PowerShell script will automatically will deploys Active Directory Servers, adds other member servers, creates Organization Units and adds users via Powershell Remoting. As source there is a XML configuration file and CSV files for User Data.

This script is just for Lab deployments not for production, and it is not perfect, but I think maybe some people will enhance this script with their own code.

I do not support this script. it is just something I need to deploy my test environments and nothing more. More it shows diffrent

You can find more information about it works in this document.

XML Config file:


<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<lab>
<config>
<servers>
<server name="ADS01" ip="192.168.100.11" id="1" adminpw="passw0rd"/>
<server name="ADS02" ip="192.168.100.12" id="2" adminpw="passw0rd"/>
</servers>
<ad>
<domain name="ktsi.local" netbiosname="ktsi" forestlevel="4" domainlevel="4" safemodepw="passw0rd" />
</ad>
<ous>
<ou name="UserAccounts" path="DC=KTSI,DC=LOCAL" />
<ou name="BASEL" path="OU=USERACCOUNTS,DC=KTSI,DC=LOCAL" />
<ou name="CHICAGO" path="OU=USERACCOUNTS,DC=KTSI,DC=LOCAL" />
<ou name="NEWYORK" path="OU=USERACCOUNTS,DC=KTSI,DC=LOCAL" />
<ou name="SALES" path="OU=BASEL,OU=USERACCOUNTS,DC=KTSI,DC=LOCAL" />
<ou name="IT" path="OU=BASEL,OU=USERACCOUNTS,DC=KTSI,DC=LOCAL" />
<ou name="ADMINISTRATION" path="OU=BASEL,OU=USERACCOUNTS,DC=KTSI,DC=LOCAL" />
<ou name="PRODUCTION" path="OU=BASEL,OU=USERACCOUNTS,DC=KTSI,DC=LOCAL" />
<ou name="SALES" path="OU=CHICAGO,OU=USERACCOUNTS,DC=KTSI,DC=LOCAL" />
<ou name="IT" path="OU=CHICAGO,OU=USERACCOUNTS,DC=KTSI,DC=LOCAL" />
<ou name="ADMINISTRATION" path="OU=CHICAGO,OU=USERACCOUNTS,DC=KTSI,DC=LOCAL" />
<ou name="PRODUCTION" path="OU=CHICAGO,OU=USERACCOUNTS,DC=KTSI,DC=LOCAL" />
<ou name="SALES" path="OU=NEWYORK,OU=USERACCOUNTS,DC=KTSI,DC=LOCAL" />
<ou name="IT" path="OU=NEWYORK,OU=USERACCOUNTS,DC=KTSI,DC=LOCAL" />
<ou name="ADMINISTRATION" path="OU=NEWYORK,OU=USERACCOUNTS,DC=KTSI,DC=LOCAL" />
<ou name="PRODUCTION" path="OU=NEWYORK,OU=USERACCOUNTS,DC=KTSI,DC=LOCAL" />
</ous>
<users>
<file name="users.csv" path="OU=ADMINISTRATION,OU=BASEL,OU=USERACCOUNTS,DC=KTSI,DC=LOCAL" />
</users>
<members>
<member name="PC101" ip="192.168.100.21" />
<member name="PC101" ip="192.168.100.22" />
<member name="PC101" ip="192.168.100.23" />
</members>
</config>
</lab>

The PowerShell Script:

Continue reading →

Slipstream SQL Server 2008 SP2 for SCCM 2012

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Thomas Maurer

The Release Candidate version of System Center Configuration Manager 2012 requires MS SQL Server 2008 SP2 with Cumulative update package 6. Now this can be a little annoying and will hopefully change to SQL Server 2008 R2 in the RTM version.

Now if you want to install MS SQL Server 2008 on a Windows Server 2008 R2 you need at least a install media with SP1. Now this post shows you how you can integrate Service Pack 2 into the install media of SQL Server 2008.

Copy the SQL Server 2008 install media to C:\SQLServer2008withSP2
Download and copy the SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2 files to C:\temp

Now you can run the following commands:

SQLServer2008SP2-KB2285068-IA64-ENU.exe /x:c:\SQLServer2008withSP2\PCU
SQLServer2008SP2-KB2285068-x64-ENU.exe /x:c:\SQLServer2008withSP2\PCU
SQLServer2008SP2-KB2285068-x86-ENU.exe /x:c:\SQLServer2008withSP2\PCUrobocopy C:\SQLServer2008withSP2\PCU c:\SQLServer2008withSP2 Setup.exe
robocopy C:\SQLServer2008withSP2\PCU c:\SQLServer2008withSP2 Setup.rll
robocopy C:\SQLServer2008withSP2\pcu\x86 C:\SQLServer2008withSP2\x86 /XF Microsoft.SQL.Chainer.PackageData.dll
robocopy C:\SQLServer2008withSP2\pcu\x64 C:\SQLServer2008withSP2\x64 /XF Microsoft.SQL.Chainer.PackageData.dll
robocopy C:\SQLServer2008withSP2\pcu\ia64 C:\SQLServer2008withSP2\ia64 /XF Microsoft.SQL.Chainer.PackageData.dllecho PCUSOURCE="C:\SQLServer2008withSP2\PCU" >> C:\SQLServer2008withSP2\x86\DefaultSetup.ini
echo PCUSOURCE="C:\SQLServer2008withSP2\PCU" >> C:\SQLServer2008withSP2\x64\DefaultSetup.ini
echo PCUSOURCE="C:\SQLServer2008withSP2\PCU" >> C:\SQLServer2008withSP2\ia64\DefaultSetup.ini

After you have done this you can install the MS SQL Server
After you have installed it, you still need to download and install the Cumulative update package 6 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 2

More about SQL Slipstreaming on Peter Saddow’s MSDN blog post.

Cisco UCS C200 M2 – Cisco Integrated Management Controller (CIMC)

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Thomas Maurer

The first things I tried with the new Cisco UCS C200 M2 servers was the CIMC (Cisco Integrated Management Controller). CIMC is the remote out-of-band management solution (IPMI) provided with Cisco servers, it’s basically the same like HP iLO or Dell DRAC.

One of the biggest advantages is that CIMC is included for free, so there is no extra license you need for extra features like KVM or stuff like that.

After working some hours with the CIMC I was really happy, no problems at all everything worked as expected. From the design it’s like the Cisco UCS Manager but better . I think it is much easier to use and much faster (it’s not Java).

Keyfeatures

Web based front-end
KVM and Virtual media
Change BIOS Settings
Active Directory connector
SNMP
IPMI (Very interesting with the Bare-metal deployment in SCVMM 2012)
SSH
Health Monitoring

Continue reading →

Building a new Hyper-V Private Cloud Lab

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Thomas Maurer

Two years ago I created my first real IT Lab with some HP ProLiant ML110 G5. I used this in the past years to test new products and projects. The Lab at this time was very limited, no storage, no cluster, not much RAM and weak CPU performance. Not much help if you work a lot with Hyper-V Clusters and System Center products.

I was looking around for some time now to find a cheap offer for new servers. In the last week I found a offer from Cisco with c200 M2 servers and I couldn’t resist to buy two of the for my Hyper-V Cluster nodes. The offer was a special deal which was even cheaper than building the servers by my own, at this point thanks to my former employer Atlantis Informatik AG.

Now what I will do is creating a new Hyper-V Cluster friendly environment with two Cisco C200 M2 Hyper-V nodes, one HP ML110 G5 as Storage Server and one of my old HP ML110 G5 servers as Hyper-V Server which all my Management servers and Active Directory will run on.

If you want to know more about Hardware you can use for a Hyper-V Lab I recommend the posts of Carsten Rachfahl on hyper-v-server.de (german).

Hardware Configuration

Hyper-V nodes:

2x Cisco C200 M2 - Intel Xeon 5620 2.4GHz Quad Core, 16GB RAM, Remote Management, IPMI, 6 Networkports

Storage Server:

1x HP ProLiant ML110 G5 – Intel Xeon E3110 3.0 GHz Dual Core, 8GB RAM, 4x 500GB Raid 10, 3 Networkports

Management Hyper-V node:

1x HP ProLiant ML110 G5 – Intel Xeon E3110 3.0 GHz Dual Core, 8GB RAM

Commands for Windows Server Core & Hyper-V Core Server

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Thomas Maurer

For some KTSI projects I have been working a lot with Windows Server Core or Hyper-V Server. Now I had to do a lot of automation, so I made this little connection of commands. If you configure the server manually you can do the most important things with the sconfig utility.

Networking

Set Hostname

netdom renamecomputer %COMPUTERNAME% /NewName:<NewComputerName>

Join Domain

netdom join %COMPUTERNAME% /domain:<DomainName> /userd:<UserName> /passwordd:*

Remove Domain

netdom remove

Rename Network Interface

netsh interface set interface name=”old name” newname=”new name”

Configure IP Address

netsh interface ipv4 set address name=”<Interface Name>” source=static address=<IPAddress> mask=<SubnetMask> gateway=<DefaultGateway>

Configure DNS Servers

netsh interface ipv4 add dnsserver name=”<Interface Name>” address=<DNS Server IP> index=1

Disable Firewall (not recommended)

netsh advfirewall set allprofiles state off

Remoting

Enable PowerShell Remoting

Enable-PSRemoting

Enable Remotedesktop

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=”remote desktop” new enable=yes

Enable Remote Administration

advfirewall firewall set rule group=”Remote Administration” new enable=yes

Enable Remote Firewall Administration

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=”Windows Firewall Remote Management” new enable=yes

Enable ICMP (Ping)

netsh firewall set icmpsetting 8

Enable Remote Disk Management

netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group=”Remote Volume Management” new enable=yes

Licensing

Enter License key

slmgr.vbs -ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

Activate Windows

slmgr.vbs -ato

Windows Update

Enable automatic updates

cscript C:'Windows'System32'Scregedit.wsf /au 4

Disable automatic updates

cscript C:'Windows'System32'Scregedit.wsf /au 1

Roles & Features

Get availibale features & roles

Dism /online /get-features /format:table

Enable feature & roles

Dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:<featurename>

Basics

Change Administrator password

net user administrator *

Restart Computer

shutdown /r /t 0

Logoff

logoff

More information about Server Core: TechNet