July 2010 - Posts
The ultimate Powershell script… This is an extremely useful tool for any admin!
PowerShell MVP MoW has made available a very slick WMI Explorer tool. Think Scriptomatic but in PowerShell. In some ways I like it even better than the original Scriptomatic. It is very easy to discover WMI properties and quickly return instances all within one GUI. The tool is a PowerShell script (unsigned) that you run from within PowerShell.
You can see screenshots and download the script at http://thepowershellguy.com/blogs/posh/archive/2007/03/22/powershell-wmi-explorer-part-1.aspx
Need a query for all Windows 7 Systems copy the below query and your set.
select SMS_R_System.Name, SMS_R_System.SMSAssignedSites, SMS_R_System.IPAddresses, SMS_R_System.IPSubnets, SMS_R_System.OperatingSystemNameandVersion, SMS_R_System.ResourceId, SMS_R_System.LastLogonUserDomain, SMS_R_System.LastLogonUserName, SMS_R_System.SMSUniqueIdentifier, SMS_R_System.NetbiosName from SMS_R_System where SMS_R_System.OperatingSystemNameandVersion like "%Workstation 6.1%" or SMS_R_System.OperatingSystemNameandVersion like "%Windows 7%"
PC Management & Security
Windows Intune Beta
Windows Intune simplifies how businesses manage and secure PCs using Windows cloud services and Windows 7—so your computers and users can operate at peak performance, from virtually anywhere.
Windows Intune is a comprehensive solution that includes PC management, malware protection, Windows upgrades, and more.
Use the Windows Intune cloud service beta to:
- Manage updates
- Protect PCs from malware
- Proactively monitor PCs
- Provide remote assistance
- Track hardware & software inventory
- Set security policies
http://www.microsoft.com/online/windows-intune.mspx
Download Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Beta
Please Note: This early release of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Beta is not available for home users. The SP1 Beta does not provide new end-user features, and installation is not supported by Microsoft.
Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Beta helps keep your PCs and servers on the latest support level, provides ongoing improvements to the Windows Operating System (OS), by including previous updates delivered over Windows Update as well as continuing incremental updates to the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 platforms based on customer and partner feedback, and is easy for organizations to deploy a single set of updates.
Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Beta will help you:
- Keep your PCs supported and up-to-date
- Get ongoing updates to the Windows 7 platform
- Easily deploy cumulative updates at a single time
- Meet your users' demands for greater business mobility
- Provide a comprehensive set of virtualization innovations
- Provide an easier Service Pack deployment model for better IT efficiency
In order to download and install the Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Beta you must currently have a Release to Manufacturing (RTM) version of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 already installed.
To learn more about piloting, deploying and managing Windows 7, visit the Springboard Series on TechNet.
To learn more about SP1 Beta and Windows Server 2008 R2, visit the SP1 Details Page.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/ff183870.aspx
Inventory Manager provides the ability to custom tailor SCCM inventory to suit the needs of your company and remove the complexities of editing configuration and reporting MOF files by means of an intuitive and easy to use graphical user interface (GUI).
Replaces the manual, text based process with a front end editor that provides a GUI to allow the user to easily add, edit and remove inventory items from SCCM. Provides a rule based management solution with intuitive easy to use wizards that take all the guess work out of inventory configuration and speeds the process of managing asset inventory in SCCM to a few minutes rather than several hours or possibly days.
Integrated Console GUI. See your inventory status and configuration with the built in integrated MMC snap-in.
Inventory Registry Keys. Extend asset data from registry key inventory throughout SCCM/SMS
Inventory WMI Classes. Extend asset data from WMI Classes throughout SCCM/SMS
Import Custom Rules. The ability to import predefined custom inventory rules (MOF), makes INVMAN limitless in its ability to extend asset inventory reporting.
Instant Configuration Management Asset Extensibility.
Instantly extend asset inventory.
Granular control over all asset properties configuration.
Huge time and cost savings. Extend Inventory Rules in seconds not hours or days. Reduce change risk substantially. Very easy to use. Very little to zero training, start using immediately.
Fine tune your asset data. Helps save database space by allowing granular reporting control over all asset properties.
Sarbanes-Oxley Standards. Assist with SOX 404 by allowing extensive asset control to assist in managing compliance adherence.
http://www.dudeworks.com/Products/InventoryManager/tabid/57/Default.aspx
Come and get it Update 1 has been released…
Overview
Deploy Windows 7, Office 2010, and Windows Server 2008 R2 with the newly released Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 Update 1. MDT is the recommended process and toolset for automating desktop and server deployment. MDT provides you with the following benefits:
- Unified tools and processes, including a set of guidance, for deploying desktops and servers in a common deployment console.
- Reduced deployment time and standardized desktop and server images, along with improved security and ongoing configuration management.
- Fully automated Zero Touch Installation deployments by utilizing System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2 and Windows deployment tools. For those without a System Center Configuration Manager 2007 infrastructure, MDT uses Windows deployment tools for Lite Touch Installation deployments.
Some of the key changes in MDT 2010 Update 1 are: - Comprehensive tools and guidance to efficiently manage large-scale deployments of Microsoft Office 2010.
- A new User-Driven Installation (UDI) deployment method that utilizes System Center Configuration Manager. UDI lets end users initiate and customize an OS deployment on their PCs—via an easy-to-use wizard.
- Automatically detects the true supported platforms for drivers, reducing deployment issues.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=3BD8561F-77AC-4400-A0C1-FE871C461A89&displaylang=en
The handle count and memory usage of Smsexec.exe keeps increasing in System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP2
On a site server that is running System Center Configuration Manager 2007 Service Pack 2 (SP2), the handle count and memory usage for the SMS_Executive service (Smsexec.exe) process keeps increasing. After a while, the available memory resources may be exhausted on the site server. When the operating system does not have sufficient memory resources, the operating system may crash, stop responding, or encounter other exceptions on the site server.
This issue usually occurs when the site server performs one or more of the following operations:
- Processes the software inventory files.
- Processes the hardware inventory files.
- The Client Push Installation feature is enabled, and one of the following conditions is true:
- The user account that performs the client push installation is not a member of the Administrators group.
- The user account that performs the client push installation cannot be used to access the folder where the Smsexec.exe file is located because of a configuration on the site server.
- The destination computer of the client push installation crashes or is not available
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/981797
I happened to need a script to set the active nics DNS suffix on all of my machines so i wrote this little script to do just that. I first looked to see if anyone else had already wrote something and found a lot of people looking for this same thing but no one really finding a solution. Save the below to CFG.DNSDomain.vbs and set the StrDNSDomain variable and you are ready to go…
Option Explicit
Dim objWMIService, objItem, colItems, strComputer, StrDNSDomain
strComputer ="."
StrDNSDomain ="YOURDOMAIN.COM"
Set objWMIService = GetObject _
("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\CIMV2")
Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
("SELECT * FROM Win32_NetworkAdapterConfiguration where IPEnabled=True")
On error Resume Next
For Each objItem In colItems
'WScript.Echo objItem.DNSDomain
objItem.SetDNSDomain(StrDNSDomain)
Next