Installation guide for System Center Configuration Manager 2012 Beta

After I downloaded the Beta for SCCM 2012, I struggled with a few installation items so I thought I would share my experiences and write a quick Installation Guide.  This is not official by any means, but does detail what I did to get SCCM 2012 Beta installed successfully.  The details are below.  I also created a Word Document that you can download as well.  In case you didn't already grab the beta bits, you can get them here.
In order to install SCCM, I did do some pre-work that I will share below.
I setup an Active Directory Domain using Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 as the single DC / GC. I did not do anything out of the norm in setting up this server.
For the server that I will install SCCM 2012 onto, I also used Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. I joined this server to the AD Domain. I also installed the following Windows Roles and Features:

1. Net Framework
2. BITs
3. Remote Differential Copy
4. Windows Update Services

Since SCCM needs a SQL Instance, I also installed SQL Server 2008 SP1 with Cumulative Update 10 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2279604). It is VERY important that you also install this exact same version of SQL Server and this exact Cumulative Update as the current SCCM 2012 beta does not support SQL Server 2008 SP2 or SQL Server 2008 R2. I also had problems installing SCCM 2012 Beta when using any Cumulative Update other than 10 for SP1.
Prior to installing SCCM 2012 beta, I also performed a Schema Prep using the ExtADSch.exe tool in the \SMSSETUP\BIN\X64 directory. If you plan to run the Schema Prep tool from your 32 bit domain controller, use the ExtADSch.exe tool from the \SMSSETUP\BIN\I386 directory.
I will now walk through the entire installation process screen by screen so that we don’t miss any steps.
I inserted the SCCM 2012 Beta DVD into the drive and accepted the autorun. Following is the startup splash screen. After clicking the Install link, I am presented with the Setup Wizard. The only real option from that screen is to click Next. In my environment, I chose to install SQL Server onto the same server that I will be installing SCCM 2012 onto (due to limited resources). Whether you choose to use the same server or a different server, you do need to have SQL Server installed prior to installing SCCM 2012 beta. If you are using a separate SQL Server, make sure you are able to access it from the network (check firewall settings on the SQL Server machine).

Getting Started
On the next screen, I get to decide how I’m going to install SCCM onto this server. The key options are to install a Primary Site server or install a Central Administration Site. Depending on your site topology needs, you may install a Central Admin Site first and then install multiple Primary Site Servers. In my lab, I am doing a single site install so I do not have a need for a Central Administration Site. For that reason, I am choosing the first option.

Upon hitting Next, I am presented with the wonderful licensing screen. In the beta, the License Key is prepopulated so we only need to accept the license terms and click Next.

Prerequisite Components
SCCM 2012 beta has to download updates and other components from the Internet to proceed with setup. Without Internet connectivity, you cannot proceed. During the actual installation process, setup also retrieves information from the Internet so you must have Internet connectivity throughout the entire installation process. I point this out because I usually setup isolated lab environments that don’t have Internet connectivity. This caused some delay and frustration on my part when I hit this minor roadblock. Want to save everyone else time and headaches.

The ConfigMgr.Manifest.cab file is downloaded first. Based on what is listed in the manifest, setup will download the remaining prerequisite components.

Site and Installation Settings
Based on your site topology, you will configure the appropriate three character Site code and Site name. Make sure you set this correctly as you cannot change this information post installation.

Since I am installing a single standalone site, I chose the second option on the following screen. If you have a Central Administration Site, you will specify it here so that you can join your existing hierarchy.

Database Server
Remember, you are not installing SQL Server here. You are only referencing the existing SQL Server that was installed prior. In my case, this happens to be the same server as the one I’m installing SCCM 2012 beta onto. I accepted the default SQL Instance name and SQL replication snapshot folder location. If you have a specific naming convention or folder location, change to meet your needs.

SMS Provider Settings
The SMS Provider is an SCCM component that provides communications between the Management console and the Site database.

Client Computer Communication Settings
This section allows you to configure client communication requirements with the server. The most secure method is HTTPS, but you do need to consider the clients that will be managed by SCCM and whether they support HTTPS communications or not. The second option that I selected is a good compromise. For those clients that can use HTTPS (via PKI certificates), that will be the preferred method while I can still support clients that can only communicate via HTTP for whatever reason.

Site System Roles
Since I did not choose to setup a PKI infrastructure in my lab environment (will do this in a future rev), I opted to use HTTP for communication with the Management Point and Distribution Point.

Customer Experience Improvement Program Configuration
As with most products, we get the option to participate in the Customer Experience Improvement Program for SCCM 2012. Since this is the beta and we need to collect this information as part of the process, you don’t have the option to not join. J

Setting Summary
Before setup actually starts installing anything, we are presented with the Summary screen to review in case we inadvertently selected a wrong option or we change our mind on a previously selected option. We can go back and make changes to our configuration settings. If all is well, click Next to proceed to prerequisite checks and then installation.

Prerequisite Check
During the prerequisite check, setup is checking for required components like BITs or the correct version of SQL Server 2008. If all is well, you will see the screenshot on the right and be able to click Next to start the actual installation process.

Install
The installation process will configure all the selected SCCM roles and services as well as SQL instances.
 
When setup is complete, you will see the next screenshot. Review the list and ensure all items have a green check mark which indicates it was installed successfully. If you have any red items, you will need to view the log file to see where the error occurred and correct the issue. On my installation, everything completed successfully and I was able to hit Close and the Management Console started.

SCCM Administration Console
I am just showing the console below, but will not be conducting a walk-through of the console in this document.

Backup and Recovery of Non-Windows VMs on Hyper-V

I will show you a simple (and low cost) manual method for back and recovery of virtual machines running on Hyper-V.  When I ran through the process in my lab, I purposely used two different types of virtual machines:

• one Windows VM with a VSS-aware OS and enabled integration services (Windows Server 2003)
• VM without VSS or integration services and absolutely no support from Microsoft (Hannah Montana Linux)

I mentioned in the VSS Overview post that contemporary versions of Windows running in a VM on Hyper-V that support VSS and have the appropriate Integration Services installed can coordinate VSS activities with many of the applications and services inside the VM when a backup request is made on the physical host.  This coordinated VSS processing via the Hyper-V Integration Services means that VSS aware applications can be backed up in a VM with absolutely no downtime. without installing an additional backup agent inside the VM (saving cost and reducing complexity).
For that other class of VMs, those that do not support VSS or do not have the “Backup” Integration Service enabled, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Hyper-V still can create a consistent backup, but the process is a little bit different.  If the VM (for whatever reason) cannot itself consume the coordinate VSS request, Hyper-V will save the state of the VM (hibernate it) copying the contents of memory to disk and then generate a snapshot of the disk housing the VM.  Here’s how the process looks to a running VM in this category:

1. Backup is requested, and a running VM is found on the host – say, like Hannah Montana Linux (or Windows 2000), which does not have VSS
   
2. Hyper-V and VSS figure out that Hannah Montana can’t consume the VSS  request, so the state of running VM is saved to disk into the directory which contains the VMs configuration file – this usually takes only a few seconds, but depends on the amount of memory used by the VM and the speed of the attached disk storage
   
3. Once the VM is completely stopped and the configuration saved, the VSS snapshot on the host can be created
   
4. After the snapshot is generated, the VM is restarted
   
5. The VM starts right back where it was, with only a brief “freeze” and “thaw’
   

Remember I did this entire process simply by requesting a backup of the physical Hyper-V host – I didn’t need to request all of this to happen Windows Server 2008 R2 / Hyper-V / VSS did it all for me!   Any VSS aware backup of Windows Server 2008 should be able to do the same thing for you, if you use diskshadow, Windows Server Backup (WSB – part of Windows Server 2008), or a more full featured enterprise backup solution. 





The key thing to note is that you can improve the backup and recovery of even unsupported operating systems running on Hyper-V.

Hyper-V Replica: Basic Monitoring Report

It’s basically four laptops on my coffee table, all part of the same AD domain.
I created a number of VMs on the systems, and configured replication, including extended replication for a couple of the VMs, as per the picture below:

Like I said earlier, what a mess of replication I’ve created! 
How could I possibly keep track of it all, as well as effectively monitor replication?
Truth be told I created this mess so I could create a report!  I was inspired somewhat by on of Ben Armstrong’s post about his home configuration. 
Ben created a nice little PowerShell one-liner that created a simple, easy to read report detailing replication status on a single host.

get-vm | Get-VMReplication | select name, replicationmode, replicationhealth,  @{Expression={"{0:N0}" -f ((get-date)-($_.lastreplicationtime)).TotalMinutes};Label="Delta (min)"}

…and the output looked like this:

It’s a nice little bit of code…Ben did some things with time to make the replication delta time appear in minutes – very cool.
I wanted to shoot for something a little more ambitious.  I wanted to report on multiple servers (to help with monitoring  remote branch / store locations), as well as make it sortable.  Ben’s output didn’t show any of the host names or the assigned replication interval, and (as is the way with PowerShell) it looked sort of old school with the output sitting inside the PowerShell Window.
I tweaked Ben’s one-liner a tiny bit.  First I created a text file on one of the hosts (c:\Serverlist.txt) with the names of my Hyper-V hosts, so I could loop through them:

johnkel-hpa.replicatest.com
johnkel-hpb.replicatest.com
johnkel-hpc.replicatest.com
johnkel-hpd.replicatest.com

I know that I could have simply asked AD for all the Hyper-V hosts it knows about, but I wanted to create a simple example (and no, I don’t own replicatest.com – I’m not running this on the Interwebs … just using the name on my coffee table!).
Then add some missing fields and pipe it to one of my favorite PowerShell cmdlets Out-Gridview:

get-content .\serverlist.txt | foreach-object {get-vm -computername $_ } | where {$_.replicationstate -notmatch "Disabled"} | get-VMreplication | select primaryserver, replicaserver, name, replicationmode, State, replicationhealth, @{Expression={"{0:0.0}" -f ($_.FrequencySec / 60)};Label="Target Freq (min)"}, @{Expression={"{0:N0}" -f ((get-date)-($_.lastreplicationtime)).TotalMinutes};Label="Delta (min)"} | out-gridview

The output is a sortable, filterable GUI (via Out-Gridview) with all the critical info I think I would need to monitor the status of Hyper-V Replica on my servers:

PowerShell is awesome… but I must confess that I don’t use it everyday, so I have to poach great examples and fiddle a lot .
Still, what’s great about the basics of the one-liner that I snagged from Ben is that it can be used in any number of ways – it could be updated to to create a simple exception report for VMs with an “Error” for replication State, to find VMs not configured for replication…whatever.
The great thing is that this “one-liner” let me easily see (and unwind) the multi-server replication I had created!

Beginner’s Guide to Data Recovery

When data is lost on a hard drive, it can result in two scenarios: 1) the operating system is fine, hard disk is still accessible, but files are missing 2) the computer doesn’t boot up and weird noises are heard from the hard disk. Now let us see step by step procedure to tackle both the scenarios.
To tackle scenario 1:
a) Don't write anything to the hard disk after the data loss. This is because whenever you delete the files from the hard drive, the OS does not delete the information permanently. It shows you that there are more free spaces but they are still occupied by the deleted information. You will not be able to see it, but data recovery software will.
b) If you have taken the backups of all the important information, check the backups and restore them to retrieve the lost information. If you have not taken the backup, follow the data recovery steps as mentioned in the steps below. It is always good to take back-up of important information on a regular basis.
c) Never install the data recovery software in the drive where the data loss has occurred. The reason is that if you install on the same drive, you might overwrite the lost data.
d) In order to be safe, always switch off the computer after the data loss. All the operations of the OS depend on the reads and writes with the hard drive and this may result in overwriting the lost data.
e) Remove the hard disk from the computer and connect a new hard drive. After you have installed an OS in the new hard drive you can connect the old hard disk to the computer as a secondary drive and access it without writing anything to it. If you prefer not to install an OS then you run a Linux live CD instead. You can also do this by putting your hard disk into a USB hard drive enclosure. Then connect it to the computer via USB to access the files.
f) If the data loss has happened due to a virus attack, make sure you have installed an anti-virus software on the second computer where you will be performing the data recovery.
g) There are several free data recovery softwares available on the internet, select the appropriate one and recover your data.
To tackle scenario 2:
Whenever there is hard disk failure, it is impossible to access the hard drive. One of the most common reasons is head crashes. The head is responsible for reading the disk’s magnetic surface. But a hardware failure means it grinds against the metal surface and makes the reads impossible. If you have a hard drive failure follow the steps below:
a) Switch off the computer and don’t try to start it again as this can result in further damage to the hard drive
b) Keep the hard disk secure, for instance if the hard drive failed due to the external problem like flood, preserve it in water and don't try to dry it by your own.
c) Whenever the physical error occurs, we cannot fix it. So contact a good data recovery company and identify which components need to be replaced.
d) Most of the data recovery companies will not charge anything if they are not able to recover the data. They may give and estimation time for analyzing the hard drive. Use a wrapping material while handing over the hard drive. Also use foam to prevent the sudden movements and to secure the hard disk inside. Hopefully they will be able to fix the physical errors and recover your data.

Installing Exchange 2010 Step-by-Step

This time we'll walk through the steps required to install a fully functional Exchange 2010 server on Windows Server 2008 R2.

System Requirements

First, you need to make sure that your Active Directory (AD) environment and your Exchange server meet the minimum requirements:

• AD forest functional level is Windows Server 2003 (or higher)
• AD Schema Master is running Windows Server 2003 w/SP1 or later
• Full installation of Windows Server 2008 w/SP2 or later OR Windows Server 2008 R2 for the Exchange server itself
• Exchange server is joined to the domain (except for the Edge Transport server role)

Prerequisites

In this example we are going to install Exchange 2010 on a Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system. Before installing Exchange we need to install some Windows components. It's important that you don't miss anything here because the Exchange 2010 installer does not provide very good feedback if Server 2008 R2 is missing required components.

1. Install the 2007 Office System Converter: Microsoft Filter Pack
2. Add the appropriate Windows components/features
   1. Open PowerShell via the icon on the task bar or Start >> All Programs >> Accessories >> Windows PowerShell >> Windows PowerShell. Be sure that PowerShell opened with an account that has rights to install Windows components/features.
   2. Run the following command: Import-Module ServerManager
   3. For a typical install with the Client Access, Hub Transport, and Mailbox roles run the following command: Add-WindowsFeature NET-Framework,RSAT-ADDS,Web-Server,Web-Basic-Auth,Web-Windows-Auth,Web-Metabase,Web-Net-Ext,Web-Lgcy-Mgmt-Console,WAS-Process-Model,RSAT-Web-Server,Web-ISAPI-Ext,Web-Digest-Auth,Web-Dyn-Compression,NET-HTTP-Activation,RPC-Over-HTTP-Proxy -Restart. For a full matrix of the required Windows components with regards to the Exchange server roles see: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb691354.aspx#WS08R2
3. If your Exchange server will have the Client Access Server role set the Net.Tcp Port Sharing Service to start automatically
   1. Open PowerShell via the icon on the task bar or Start >> All Programs >> Accessories >> Windows PowerShell >> Windows PowerShell. Be sure that PowerShell opened with an account that has rights to modify service startup settings.
   2. Run the following command: Set-Service NetTcpPortSharing -StartupType Automatic

Exchange 2010 Installation

Now we're ready to run the Exchange 2010 installer. We'll go through a typical installation that includes the Client Access, Hub Transport, and Mailbox roles. This is what you will want to install if you are only going to be running one Exchange server. If you scale out your Exchange architecture with multiple servers then you will want to familiarize yourself with the Exchange server roles for a proper deployment.

1. Logon to the desktop of your soon to be Exchange server with a Domain Admin account.
2. Run setup from the Exchange 2010 media.
3. Click on "Step 3: Choose Exchange language option" and choose one of the options (Install only languages from the DVD will be fine in most cases).
4. Click on "Step 4: Install Microsoft Exchange."
5. Click Next at the Introduction page.
6. Accept the license terms and click Next.
7. Make a selection on the Error Reporting page and click Next.
8. Stick with the default "Typical Exchange Server Installation" and click Next.
9. Choose a name for your Exchange Organization and click Next.
10. Make a selection on the Client Settings page and click Next.
11. If you want your Exchange server to be available externally then choose a domain name such as mail.myorganization.com, click Next.
12. Make a selection on the Customer Experience Improvement Program page and click Next.
13. If all the prerequisites are there then you can click Install.
14. Grab a cup of coffee or take a walk while the installation process does its thing.
15. When the installation has finished go back to the Exchange installation page click on "Step 5: Get critical updates for Microsoft Exchange."
16. Install Microsoft Update (if necessary) so that Windows update will check for non-OS updates, and verify that there are no Exchange updates.

How to install a Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H

Before installing any components you must discharge yourself from any static energy. This can be done by using an anti static wrist band. Or alternatively by touching a metal surface such as the metallic area of the case.
Before we start mounting the motherboard we need to fit the ATX back plate. These back plates come supplied with the motherboard. Back plates are normally labeled and colour coded. Make sure you are holding the back plate the right way up, and face the labeled side towards the back of the case. Using your fingers push the plate so that it snaps into position. It can take some force to get all the corners into place. Once the back plate sits correctly into place, it should look something like the image below. As you can see, the plate has cut out so the motherboard’s ports fit perfectly in to position.

The gold colored screws below are called standoff screws which are used for mounting the motherboard. Your case may have many holes for the standoff screws. Which holes should you use ? The easiest way to find out which holes to use is to place your motherboard on top of the holes. See which holes on the motherboard line up with the holes on the case. Mark the holes using a pencil. Those are the ones you’ll install the standoffs into.

Do not use extra standoff that does not match the motherboard as it will cause a short circuit. Start placing the standoff’s using your finger and tighten them using a plier.

This is a Gigabyte H55M UD2H motherboard. It has an Intel 1156 socket supporting i3, i5, and i7 processors. Place the motherboard on top of the standoff screws making sure that the ports slide into the back plate first. Use the supplied screws that goes into the standoff’s to secure the motherboard. Place the screws into each hole and tighten it using a screw driver.

How to Install Windows 8

Windows 8 is Microsoft's latest operating system which is completely redesigned. It moves away from the traditional interface to a completely new interface known as Metro User Interface. The familiar start menu is now gone. Icons and windows are replaced with live tiles and magazine styled interface. Unlike any previous versions, Windows 8 and its variation RT works across multiple architectures and has been optimized for touch screen. So it will work on Intel based PCs or an ARM based tablet.
This step-by-step guide demonstrates how to install Microsoft Windows 8 Professional. You can follow this guide if you have Windows 8 basic edition or any other version as the steps are very similar.
The best way to install Windows 8 is to do a clean install. Before you start the installation process I recommend that you check Windows 8 System Requirements to ensure that your hardware is supported by Windows 8. If you don't have Windows 8 drivers for all your hardware, it is a good idea to download all the drivers from the hardware manufacturers web site and save all the necessary drivers on a CD/DVD or a USB drive before you start the installation.
Windows 8 Professional DVD is bootable. In order to boot from the DVD you need to set the boot sequence. Look for the boot sequence under your BIOS setup and make sure that the first boot device is set to CD-ROM/DVD-ROM.
Step 1 - Place Windows 8 DVD in your dvd-rom drive and start your PC. Windows 8 will start to boot up and you will get the following screen with a rotating progress bar.

Step 2 - The next screen allows you to setup your language, time and currency format, keyboard or input method. Choose your required settings and click next to continue.

Step 3 - The next screen allows you to install or repair Windows 8. Since we are doing a clean install we will click on "install now".

Step 4 - The setup process starts as shown.

Step 5 - At this stage you need to type your product key that came with your copy of Windows 8. Click next once you have entered the product key correctly.

Step 6 - Read the license terms and tick I accept license terms. Then click next to continue.

Step 7 - Choose the type of installation you want. Since you are doing a clean install you need to click on custom.

Step 8 - Choose where you would like to install Windows 8. If you have one hard drive you will get an option similar to the image below. You can click next to continue then go to step 12.

If you have more than one drive or partition then you need to select the appropriate drive and click next. At this stage you can go to step 12.

If you want to partition a large drive then do not click next. Go to step 9.

Step 9 - If you want to partition an existing drive then click new. Choose the size of the partition and click apply.

Step 10 - Click OK to create the partition. Windows will create additional system partition which you don't have to worry about.

Step 11 - You will notice that you have 3 partitions. Partition 1 is system reserved. Leave this partition alone. Partition 2 is 30GB primary partition that was created in the last step. The third partition is unallocated which means it is not being used. You can however format it and use it as a second storage drive. This can be done after windows installation is finished so I will leave it for now.
Choose partition 2 (Primary Partition). This is where I will install Windows 8. Click next to continue.

Step 12 - At this stage Windows starts to copy files to your hard drive and begins the installation. This process might take a few minutes depending on your computer specification. Now is a good time to grab yourself a coffee.

Step 13 - When all the necessary files are copied Windows 8 will automatically restart as shown.

Step 14 - You will go through various progress bar and information messages as shown on the following images. Windows might restart automatically second time.

Step 15 - You are now presented with "Let's go through a few basics" screen. It will automatically select personalize option.

Step 16 - Choose your PC name and personalize the color.

Step 17 - Here you can choose express settings or choose customize. I will choose customize to make further customization.

Step 18 - Choose Yes, turn on sharing and connect to devices.

Step 19 - Help protect and update your PC. Choose your preferred option and click next.

Step 20 - Send Microsoft info to help make Windows and apps better. Choose your preferred options or leave the default settings. Click next to continue.

Step 21 - Check online for solutions to problem. Choose your preferred options or leave the default settings. Click next to continue.

Step 22 - Sign in to your PC. Here you can login to your PC using a Microsoft email account such as your hotmail account.

If you do not have a Microsoft account you can create one by clicking Sign up for a new email address. Go to Step 23.

If you don't want to create an email account and prefer to create a local user name, click Sign in without a Microsoft account. Go to step 24.

Step 23 - Sign up for a new email address. If you want to create a new email account you need to complete the form below.

Step 24 - Click local account

Step 25 - Here you can choose a local user name and password. Choose finish to continue.

Step 26 - At this stage Windows starts to finalize your settings. You will get the following information screen as the installation moves forward.

Step 27 - As Windows 8 setup progresses you are given a presentation of the new interface. Its shows you how swiping the edge of the screen brings up the Charm bar. Using the Charm bar you can do a search or change your settings. It also demonstrates how you can hover your mouse on the bottom or top left corner to access the switch list. This list shows all open applications and allows you to switch between them.

Step 28 - Soon as the demonstration finishes windows moves into the final stages of the setup.

Step 29 - Finally the setup process is finished and you are presented with a completely new and unfamiliar Metro user interface. You have your most common application right in front of you. Clicking on any tiles will launch that application. At this point you can start using your computer. However, it may not be fully configured. You need to make sure that all the hardware is detected correctly and the necessary device drivers are installed. This can be done from the device manager.

Step 30 - To go to device manager click search on charm bar on the right. Then type devmgmt.msc. Click on the devmgmt icon on the left.

Step 31 - You will see all your hardware listed as shown on the image below. You need to check if you have any yellow exclamation marks next to the name of the devices, similar to "Base System Device" on the image below. This indicates that the driver has not been installed for this device.

At this stage you can install the driver for this device. To do so, Right Mouse click on Base System Device -> Update Driver Software...

Step 32 - You can choose to "Search automatically for updated driver software" or "Browse my computer for driver software". If you have the driver CD or if the driver is on a USB drive then choose "browse my computer for driver software". Window 8 will search and install the driver from the CD or you can locate the driver manually.

Once you have removed all the yellow exclamation marks from the device manager your Windows 8 configuration would be fully complete.