Prepare a Virtual Environment for testing
by Mats Hellman on 14.May, 2010 under Windows, Windows Deployment
One of the more important tools I use in my day to day work is Virtual PC. To be honest I’ve been looking at VMware Workstation for a while because Virtual PC 2007 doesn’t support 64-bit guest operating systems. But that’s another story. Right now I manage with what I’ve got.
Why a virtual environment?
This might be the first question. Well it saves time and money. I can test different products and deployments without using a full expensive test lab. The virtual systems can’t replicate every possible scenario but I’ve managed fine so far.
You can’t test disk encryption and that’s to bad but almost anything else is possible without making changes to your production environment.
How to setup the environment
First of all you should create a few master images so you will be able to copy in servers and clients when you need new ones. This is simply done by installing a copy of Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 or any other system you might need in the future. I personally keep master images of
- Windows Server 2008 32-bit
- Windows Server 2003 R2 32-bit
- Windows 7 32-bit
- Windows XP Pro 32-bit
So if you need all of them you need to start installing. Just install the basic OS, install all/any tools you like to use. Maybe you even want install the Office suite. Another tool collection I suggest you install is the Sysinternals Suite. After you have installed all the basic Operating systems we need to Sysprep them so they can be used again and again without any collisions on SID:s etc.
Using Sysprep
After you have everything installed you need to sysprep your installation and let the guest operating system shut down so you can copy the virtual hard disk (.vhd) file. Sysprep has been integrated in Windows Vista and newer, XP and 2003 has the files on the installation media in the folder <DRIVE>:\Support\Tools\Deploy.cab . In Vista and newer you can find sysprep in the folder C:\Windows\System32\sysprep.
For Windows Server 2008 and Vista you need to install the Virtual Machine Addons to get it running smoothly and you really want them to be left alone by sysprep. After all we are running sysprep to get our master images for Virtual PC.
So to keep your Virtual Machine Additions in the image you need to create a sysprep.xml file in the sysprep folder. If you want to you can place anything in the Sysprep file but this is needed to keep the Virtual Machine additions for the next boot.
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State">
<settings pass="generalize">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-PnpSysprep" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" processorArchitecture="x86">
<PersistAllDeviceInstalls>true</PersistAllDeviceInstalls>
</component>
</settings>
</unattend>
Once you have the file saved in the C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep directory just run from the command prompt.
sysprep /generalize /unattend:sysprep.xml
After the computer shuts down you can move the .vhd file to a storage directory and name it something like Ws2008-master.vhd.
Windows 7 has a greatly improved support to run as a virtual machine so I’ve never had to install any of the additions on a Windows 7 image.
The result
The next time you need to “install” a new virtual Server or client just copy the .vhd file to another location and rename it. Create a new virtual machine and point it to the newly copied .vhd file. Boot the server or client and you’re done. Easy, fast and great for testing.
Virtual PC wants to store everything in your home folder but I like to keep my virtual machines in the root of a drive. So I know where to find them.
D:\VMS to keep the vmc files
D:\VMS\VHD to keep the .vhd files in use, not the master images
D:\VMS\Master to keep the master .vhd files
D:\VMS\ISOS to store any ISO files I might need.
You should set it up the way you like it but for me that keeps it in order and I know where to look for my files.
If you have any questions feel free to comment and I’ll answer anything I can.
New theme
by Mats Hellman on 10.May, 2010 under Nixadmins.net
I’ve been working on a new theme for the site for almost six months now. When you only have a few hours a week to work on it it takes some time. The theme should be easier to read than the previous one and most of the readers I have read to solve some problem. Due to that fact the reading should be easy.
There are still parts that are in development, like most of the forms and the search. But it should be functional and as I said, easier on the eyes when reading.
I’m also considering to make printing to PDF available so you can save some of the information on your local resources.
Hope the new look is satisfactory to everyone reading.
Systems Center Configuration Manager 2007, Secondary site Pending
by Mats Hellman on 13.Apr, 2010 under Windows
I’ve been setting up SCCM 2007 at work and the Primary site is working fine so I decided to deploy the first of many secondary sites. I pushed the install from our Primary Site server and added it to the Local Administrators group on the secondary site server to be. The installation went fine, or at least it looked like it did. I noticed I had forgot to set the Secondary Site server in the SMS_SiteSystemToSiteServerConnection_XXX group on the primary site server so the Secondary site wasn’t able to write to the inbox of the Primary site server. This resulted in the secondary site hanging at PENDING. And fixing it took some searching, after about 4 hours of searching I decided that when I find a solution I’m going to post it so no one else has to go trough the same trouble.
Fixing the Pending issue
The solution is really simple. Since the secondary site wasn’t able to report it was done and the settings applied I had to find a way to get them to the primary site server. Apparently this is done at install and it won’t try it again. So just log in on your Secondary Site server, copy the file <ConfigMgrInstallPath>\inboxes\sitectrl.box\SiteCtrl.ct0 file to a temporary location (C:\Temp!?) and rename it to 00000000.ct2. When that’s done copy the renamed file to your Primary Site Server <ConfigMgrInstallPath>\inboxes\hman.box\ wait a second and your secondary site will be online. The solution was really easy but it was really hard to find so I’m hoping this will make someone’s day a little better.
Apple iPad released
by Mats Hellman on 27.Jan, 2010 under Apple
Just watched Twit.tv live from Apples event. I knew long before the event I would not be exited about the tablet and I’m still not convinced of the success for the iPad. I can’t see where this thing fits in the market. The price is ranging from USD 499 to USD 829. It’s nearly as expensive as a MacBook or a MacBook Pro 13″.
Apple seems to think it will revolutionize press and save newspapers and the book industry. I have my doubts here. As a long time computer user I still PRINT every document that’s longer than 10 pages I have to or want to read. The screen just isn’t as good for reading as paper. Books wont do well on a iPad for me as I do most my reading in bed where a book is far better than an tablet.
It will however be a great device to watch a movie on while on a train or for taking notes in a meeting. But and this is a big but, if I already have a laptop why would I put out the extra money for the tablet.
It still doesn’t do flash, and like it or not flash is something we have to support today. It’s also as restricted as the iPhone and that’s to bad. I would have liked to see more OSX and less iPhone OS in this device. I like to be able to at least change some settings on my devices.
On the positive side it is able to run all the iPhone’s applications so even before the release it has over 140 000 applications and that’s great. Still I don’t see the value of this device if you already have a laptop and a smartphone. Some think it would be great for users reading email and browsing the web but most of them will want to store their pictures locally and do some editing on the pictures. The 800USD version has 64Gb space so it might be usable for this but then cough up a little bit more and you can have a Apple laptop, go for PC:s and you’ll get one much cheaper. The 500USD version has 16Gb so that’s just to small for any real use and to pay 500USD for a book reader, well that’s to much.
Before I pass any final judgment I will go take a look at it when it hit’s the stores in Finland I’ll give it a fair chance even if my first impressions weren’t that great.
Google Chrome for Mac out
by Mats Hellman on 08.Dec, 2009 under Uncategorized
Finally the Google Chrome browser is out for OSX. I’ve been using it on and off in Windows 7 for a few months and now I can finally start using it in my Mac’s also. A big thank’s to the Chrome team for getting it out.
It’s still a beta but works like a charm in OS X 10.5. Go get your’s from http://www.google.com/chrome
