December 2008 - Posts

• MDOP : Microsoft App-V 4.5 certified

  Today I passed the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist Exam 70-656: Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack, Configuring (includes App-V 4.5).If you are considering taking the exam, it consists of 75 questions, is over three hours long, and I recommend that you make sure that you know each component of MDOP very well in order to pass the test. I am so pleased that I succeeded , even as the exam was free for me as for the fist 500 who registered for the exam with the promocode "MDOP"....(read more) Posted Dec 29 2008, 02:40 PM by SCUG.be

• SCCM : Deploying the App-V 4.5 client

  Today , I ran into some issues to deploy the App-V 4.5 client with SCCM 2007 SP1 R2 . If you have System Center Configuration Manager 2007 as a distribution system you can find information about How to Install the Microsoft Application Virtualization Client here . The article is mentioning the following prerequisites that must be installed on the Configuration Manager 2007 client computer: Microsoft Application Error Reporting – For more information about installing Microsoft Application Error Reporting...(read more) Posted Dec 23 2008, 09:35 AM by SCUG.be Filed under: configmgr, sccm, smsv4, SCCM 2007, sms v4, configmgr2007, sccm2007, Configmgr 2007, AppV

• Prerequisites and Known Issues with Hyper-V Protection

  SP1 for dataprotection 2007 is now available, but if there are some prerequisites and known issues with Hyper-V protection:   Prerequisites: Before protecting Hyper-V virtual machines with DPM, ensure that the following updates are installed on the target Hyper-V server: The customer should be running Hyper-V RTM. The corresponding Windows update is KB950050 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=132735). HyperV Manager version should be 6.0.6001.18016. Install the following updates: KB951308 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=132733) on each cluster node for cluster deployment. Increased functionality and virtual machine control in the Windows Server 2008 Failover Cluster Management console for the Hyper-V role. KB959962 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=136583) on the Hyper-V host and the guest virtual machines. This update for Hyper-V writer is required for backing up Hyper-V VMs with DPM. Note KB959962 is scheduled to release in January 2009, it enables online protection of Hyper-V guest machines. Until the update is available, virtual machines can be protected by configuring them for offline backup within each machines’ Integration Components service settings. Open the Settings window for the virtual machine and select Integration Services in the left pane. Clear the check box for Backup (volume snapshot) service and click OK. If you have set the DWORD AllowOffline registry key under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft Data Protection Manager\Agent make sure the value is not zero (0).     KB960038 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=136584) on all Hyper-V hosts. This update for Windows Server 2008 fixes a crash of the Hyper-V host server which you may experience when backups are made using Hyper-V writer. The version of Integration Components running inside the VM should be the same as the version of Hyper-V on the host. For Hyper-V RTM it is 6.0.6001.18016. You can confirm this in the Device Manager inside the guest VM. Under System Devices in Device Manager, right-click on the entry Hyper-V Volume Shadow Copy and choose Properties. Check the version under the Driver tab. If the version does not match, insert the integration services disk by choosing the option under the Action menu in the VM console. Install the integration components and reboot the VM. Known Issues: Issue Symptoms Cause Workaround Solution Recommendation Hyper-V server stops working when DPM runs backups on the server. You may experience a Stop 0x7E when you backup a server that has the Hyper-V role installed. This is a problem in the volsnap.sys driver when interacting with the Hyper-V VSS writer. N/A Download and install KB960038 on the Hyper-V host to solve this problem. We recommend that you deploy this in the next available downtime window on the Hyper-V host. Backup of Hyper-V virtual machine fails Hyper-V virtual machine backups (backups using child partition) fail with following error for multiple volume virtual machines: DPM encountered a retryable VSS error. (ID 30112 Details: Unknown error (0x800423f3) (0x800423F3)). On the Hyper-V host in the event log: VMMS Event log contains following entry: Failed to revert to VSS snapshot on one or more virtual hard disks of the virtual machine '%1'. (Virtual machine ID %2). . Perform an offline backup of the virtual machine. Download and install KB959962 on the Hyper-V host to solve this problem. We recommend that you install this update on all Hyper-V hosts protected by DPM. Recovery of Hyper-V virtual machine fails The Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management service stops when you are restoring a virtual machine. This issue can occur if the virtual machine is configured to use a legacy network adapter. Restart the Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management service. Download and install KB959962 on the Hyper-V host to solve this problem. Then recover the data to an alternate location. We recommend that you deploy this update on all Hyper-V hosts protected by DPM. Backup of the Hyper-V virtual machine fails Hyper-V VSS writer is in a bad state and does not identify itself to VSS anymore. The VSS application writer or the VSS provider is in a bad state. Either it was already in a bad state or it entered a bad state during the current operation (ID 30111 Details: Unknown error (0x80042319) (0x80042319)). Please check that the Event Service and the VSS service are running, and check for errors associated with these services in the Application Event Log on the server hyper01.contoso.com. Please allow 10 minutes for VSS to repair itself and then retry the operation. This is a problem in the Hyper-V writer in Windows Server 2008. To get the writer back to a stable state, restart the Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management service. Perform offline backups of the virtual machines to prevent the writer from going into a bad state. Download and install KB959962 on the Hyper-V host to solve this problem. We recommend that you deploy this update on all Hyper-V hosts protected by DPM.   Grtz, Alexandre Verkinderen http://scug.be/blogs Posted Dec 20 2008, 04:17 AM by SCUG.be Filed under: DPM 2007, SCDPM 2007, Data Protection Manager 2007, issues

• Service Pack 1 for DPM 2007 now available

  What’s new in SP1 for DataProtection Manager 2007:   Service Pack 1 for Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) 2007 provides continuous data protection for Windows application and file servers using seamlessly integrated disk and tape media and includes the following expanded capabilities: Protection of Hyper-V™ virtualization platforms, including both Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V and the Microsoft Hyper-V Server, has been added to the existing set of protected workloads, building on the virtualization protection originally delivered for Virtual Server 2005. Enhanced SQL Server 2008 protection, including the addition of new protection capabilities for mirrored databases, support for parallel backups of databases within a single instance, and the ability to move data from SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2008 for migration scenarios. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 receive index protection, significant catalog optimization, and support for mirrored content databases. Added protection for Exchange Server 2007 Standby Cluster Replication (SCR), enabling a complete disaster recovery solution that leverages SCR failover alongside DPM point-in-time restores. In addition to enhancing the protection of each of the core Microsoft application workloads, additional capabilities have also been introduced with the release of DPM 2007 SP1, such as: Local Data Source Protection enabling the DPM 2007 SP1 server to act as a branch office server offering self-protecting File Services and Virtualization hosting within one platform. Cross-Forest Protection allowing large enterprise customers with multiple Active Directory® forests to now have even more flexibility in their DPM deployments. Provision for a Client DPML answers customer demand for a more cost-effective way to protect Windows XP and Windows Vista clients using the same DPM 2007 infrastructure that protects their servers. Disaster Recovery capabilities within DPM 2007 SP1 now include the ability to leverage a third-party vaulting partner via the cloud (SaaS). DPM 2007 SP1 x86     http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=125991 DPM 2007 SP1 x64    http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=125992 Management pack for DPM 2007: feature Bullet Summary: Centrally monitor the health and state of data protection for multiple DPM servers and protected computers. In State Views, view consolidated state for protection activities in DPM at a glance. For DPM servers, view the state of database and service health, performance, and other indicators. For protected computers, view the state of connectivity, data protection and recovery operations. Monitor resource usage and performance trends on DPM servers. Monitor actionable DPM alerts relating to protection and recovery. Through MOM alerts, monitor the status of memory, CPU, and disk resources on DPM servers, and find out about database and service failures. Read Product Knowledge to get comprehensive practical information for diagnosing and resolving alerts. Use tasks to diagnose and resolve problems on remote DPM servers.   Download MP here   Grtz, Alexandr Verkinderen http://scug.be/blogs Posted Dec 20 2008, 04:13 AM by SCUG.be Filed under: Operations Manager 2007, DPM 2007, SCDPM 2007, Data Protection Manager 2007

• SCCM 2007 : Branch Distribution Point option is "grayed" out on the New Site Roles Wizard

  When adding a new Distribution Point using the "New Site Roles" wizard; sometimes the "Branch Distribution Point" option is not available (grayed out) and the only option you have is to create a standard Distribution Point. Well, there can several reasons to this. Most times because the computer on which you are trying to install the Branch Distribution on, has no ConfigMgr Agent Host installed which is a requirement for BDP's. However, if your ConfigMgr site is configured...(read more) Posted Dec 17 2008, 08:02 AM by SCUG.be Filed under: configmgr, sccm, smsv4, SCCM 2007, sms v4, configmgr2007, AdminUi, sccm2007, Configmgr 2007

• Hyper-V: Virtual Machine Bus cannot find enough resources

  A few weeks ago my colleague installed Hyper-V onto her laptop and she copied one of her Virtual Machines onto this server. When she booted the server there where some issues with the virtual machine, the main issue was that the vmbus technology was not available. After a bit of troubleshooting I find out where the problem was. I’ve looked into the device manager and saw that the Virtual Machine bus failed to load. In the details pane of this device you can see the following error: The device cannot...(read more) Posted Dec 15 2008, 03:14 AM by SCUG.be Filed under: Windows Server 2008, Virtualization, Tips & Tricks, Hyper-V, virtual server, Vista

• SCCM forums moved to new forum platform

  The technet forums have received a new update, with a new interface. The Server 2008 and vista forums have been using the new interface for a while, and today the configmgr forums were move to the new platform as well. New functionality and annoyances fixed include (but are not limited to) You can now click the post button without scrolling down (this was a huge annoyance to me) Forums in general are faster You can tag posts into categories so you can save post for future reference Way better control...(read more) Posted Dec 11 2008, 02:27 PM by SCUG.be Filed under: configmgr, sccm, smsv4, sms v4, configmgr2007, Configmgr 2007, SMS, OSD

• IBM Deployment Pack for Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007

  The IBM Deployment Pack for Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 is a deployment kit that extends Configuration Manager 2007 by providing IBM utilities, drivers, and custom tasks for creating automated deployment scripts for IBM target servers. The IBM extensions are available as built-in actions within the Configuration Manager menus. The IBM Deployment Pack includes various IBM and third-party tools that are needed to configure items such as RAID adapters, management cards, BIOS settings...(read more) Posted Dec 05 2008, 10:12 AM by SCUG.be Filed under: configmgr, sccm, smsv4, SCCM 2007, sms v4, configmgr2007, sccm2007, Configmgr 2007, script, OSD

• SCCM 2007 : Solution for audio issue when building your Windows XP SP3 Reference image

  When you deploy a Windows XP SP3 reference image, and you use the Task Sequence to add certain soundcard drivers you might face the problem that your soundcard drivers are installed but at the end there is no sound. Apparently if you do not log in without a user on your XP SP3 windows can't detect a part of the soundcard device. A possible solution that worked for me is installing the sound device manually and using the application drivermax (http://www.innovative-sol.com/drivermax/) to capture...(read more) Posted Dec 05 2008, 05:01 AM by SCUG.be Filed under: configmgr, smsv4, SCCM 2007, sms v4, configmgr2007, sccm2007, Configmgr 2007, migration, script, OSD

• Protecting Exchange Data with Data Protection Manager

  The Belgium ProExchange user group did a session on DPM.   Description: In this session you will be given an overview of Data Protection Manager 2007 and how you can use it to protect your Exchange Server environment. You will be given step by step instructions on how to configure DPM and Exchange to be able to backup and restore an entire server, one mailbox or one particular item.   Speaker: Ilse Van Criekinge Global Knowledge My name is Ilse Van Criekinge, born (Sep.1973) and raised in a very small town called Waarloos, Belgium. I graduated with an Economics degree at the Antwerp Business School in 1996. Nowadays I'm a trainer and consultant at Global Knowledge Belgium bvba and founding member of Pro-Exchange.be. Got the opportunity to dig into Exchange, MOM, Sharepoint and all that. If you ever need a training, one place to go to: www.globalknowledge.be. Next to training, I'm always in the mood to help you design, install, and/or troubleshoot your Exchange environment, so if you ever need an exchange hand, you know where to find me (ilse.vancriekinge@globalknowledge.be, or ilse.vancriekinge@pro-exchange.be).     Video: Grtz, Alexandre Verkinderen Posted Dec 04 2008, 12:09 PM by SCUG.be Filed under: session, DPM 2007, exchange 2007, Data Protection Manager 2007