Install Guide – ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 Beta + Server 2012 + SQL 2012 CU 3

Here’s a guide for installing ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 Beta onto Windows 2012 with SQL 2012 RTM CU 3.

We can now for the first time join together all three 2012 products, Configuration Manager, SQL and Windows Server

The whole installation experience is the easiest I’ve seen from Microsoft across all aspects of the install. I did not keep a record of installation times to see if the run time is different than for CM 2012 RTM and Server 2008 R2 with SQL 2008 R2, but it seemed quicker. I expect there isn’t much in it between the two but will do a timed run-through at some point out of interest when SP1 RTM’s

To get going you’ll need to download a few files and have a VM ready to install into. A Domain controller is a must, VM or physical so that you can domain join your Site server in readiness for ConfigMgr

You will only need X64 files, there will be no X86 files required, the only exception to this is the ConfigMgr 2012 console which is installed for you as part of Site installation

Ok, you just need to go through in the same order as below and you should get an identical result, a successful ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 Beta install

Something worth noting is that I don’t explicitly install all of the OS requirements simply because the products we’re installing, and the order they go on in results in everything needed getting turned on or installed

Download Cache

Make sure you download all of this before starting the builds below, in order to save the most time

We had eight kits to deal with before, now we have just 5, WAIK is no longer included in the ConfigMgr install kit and is called WADK now, as a separate download

Virtual Machines

The following Virtual Machines will need to be assigned and built:

Install the Domain Controller

It’s pretty easy to DCPROMO a Windows server to become a domain controller once you’ve built one. Go through the motions and produce a new AD domain controller, or reuse an existing one

Once the Domain Controller has been created, or if you have an existing one, you need to extend the Active Directory Schema to support ConfigMgr’s heavy tie-in with Active Directory. Follow this guide to extend the schema and this still-applicable ConfigMgr 2007 guide to setup the System Management container and appropriate permissions

Check out this guide which has some good info on taking care of the Domain Controller, Extending the Schema and setting up the System Management container

Install Windows Server 2012

I won’t screenshot the Server 2012 installation as there isn’t much too it, instead install Windows Server 2012 into your VM and log onto it

Do the following to the Windows Server 2012 OS

If you haven’t already, change the machine name

Give it a static IP address

Join it to your AD domain

Remember the more you tweak the OS the more likely it is to present an issue. Keep It Simple

Install WADK

We no longer use WAIK, we’re now on WADK for Windows 8

Launch the WADK installer

I just accept default paths for all my installs, unless there is a known issue or a pretty good reason to not do so

Select Next

I like to give the CEIP telemetry data from my lab installations, it actually does help them to reveal trending issues, and most other companies opt you in by default (the fruit company for example)

Select Yes

Select Next

Select Accept

Un-tick everything short of

Deployment Tools

Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE)

User State Migration Tool (USMT)

Select Install

Read the getting started guide if you want to catch up with the changes in WADK

Select Close

Install OS prerequisites

Open a PowerShell prompt and type

Import-Module servermanager

Add-WindowsFeature BITS,RDC,Web-WMI,WDS

I’ve really cut this down, magic happens during the installs that results in what we need being switched on or installed

Note: .NET Framework 4.0 is built in to Server 2012 now, so no need to install it anymore!

Install SQL 2012 RTM

ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 Beta supports SQL 2012 RTM with a minimum of CU 2. ConfigMgr has very strict SQL collation requirement, pretty much across the entire System Center range, essentially only SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS collation is supported. This has to be selected during installation if you are running a non-USA regional\system OS

Something handy to know ahead of the installs is that you can use CMTrace to view the resulting log files for the SQL 2012 RTM and CU 2 installations. Each execution creates a new folder on the following path called detail.txt:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\110\Setup Bootstrap\Log

Launch the SQL 2012 RTM installer

Files are expanded …

Select Installation on the left navigation pane

Select New SQL Server stand-alone installation or add features to an existing installation

All rules will pass

Select OK

Select Specify a free edition and make sure Evaluation is the chosen option

Select Next

Tick Accept the license terms

Tick Send feature usage data

Select Next

I open the firewall later, hence the warning above

Select Next

Select SQL Server Feature Installation

Select Next

Select the following

Database Engine Services

Reporting Services – Native

Management Tools – Basic

—    Management Tools – Complete

Select Next

Ho hummm, we wait while wheels turn

Rules are good

Select Next

The default is Default instance, which we’ll accept along with the paths

Select Next

Ho hummm  …

Select Next

By default each of the services will be configured using a service-specific user account, we need to revert back to using NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM

Do this for the SQL Server Agent, the SQL Server Database Engine and the SQL Server Reporting Services services

Click Account Name

Browse

Browse locally for SYSTEM and accept

Set the services Start-up Type to automatic

When done, Select the Collation tab

If SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS is not shown, click Customize otherwise skip this part

Select SQL collation, used for backwards compatibility

Scroll down the list and choose SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS

Select OK

Select Next

Add the current user and a domain user at this point. I usually add domain admins and the local administrator unless I want to be very specific about who gets what

Select Next

Select Install and configure

Select Next

Tick Send Windows and SQL Server Error Reports to Microsoft …

Select Next

Rules passed again

Select Next

SQL is ready to install, show time!

Note the Configuration file path, you can automate this part of SQL install by using this file next time

Select Install

Once it’s done we get success reported back for all the features being install

Install SQL 2012 RTM CU 3

Now we’ll put SQL 2012 RTM CU 3 on

Run the SQL 2012 RTM CU 3 installer

Unpack file time …

Tick I accept the license terms

Tick Send feature …

Select Next

The CU 3 detects a version it can upgrade

Select Next

No files in use, this is on a brand new install with no reboot yet, and none required before we patch. That’s cool

Select Next

That’s it, SQL 2012 RTM with CU 3 both installed successfully

Select Close

Install WSUS

We’re going to install WSUS using Server Manager now. You can add this feature using PowerShell, but I’m passing through quickly and haven’t looked to see how you configure WSUS so that it uses the existing SQL installation and not WID

Open Server Manager

Select Add Roles and features

Select Next

Select Role-based or feature-based installation

Select Next

Select Select a server from the server pool

Select Next

Tick Windows Server Update Services

The following window will appear

I show this and the two shots below so you can see what feature are needed to support this role

Select Add Features

Select Next

Select Next

Select Next

Previously the WSUS installer wizard would be launched after we’d elected to install the role, that would then allow us to configure the Database and Website settings. We now have this integrated pretty much into the role creation

Tick WSUS Services

Tick Database

Select Next

Enter a valid (as in the directory exists) path to store WSUS Content.

You should do this to get patch licensing files, otherwise licensed patches won’t install on the clients

Select Next

Punch in the SQL server hostname

For this guide we’re just going to use the default SQL instance so no need to specify it above

Select Check connection

It should be able to reach back to SQL 2012 RTM with CU 3 and confirm connection is successful

Select Next

Notice that you can export configuration settings.

It has also put the Windows Internal Database (WID) into the list even though we haven’t selected it directly. I assume ticking Database during role creation induces this, I’ll see what that is about when I pass through here again once SP1 has released

Select Install

Select Close

Configure the firewall

This Primary won’t have a parent most likely, but if you do configure the beta in a hierarchy then you’ll need to open up the firewall ports or take the firewall down entirely

To open up the firewall ports that are needed by ConfigMgr for inter-site database replication

From Powershell or CMD prompt enter the following

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=”SQLServer” dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=1433

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name=”SQL Service Broker” dir=in action=allow protocol=TCP localport=4022

The rules should both be accepted with an OK message

Configure SQL 2012 Maximum server memory usage

Method 1

SQL will consume all your memory. It needs to be throttled back

Open SQL Server Management Studio and get the properties for the database up

Select Memory and change the maximum server memory setting

Method 2

Use OSQL to make the change to the maximum allowed memory

Note that this sets aside 1GB of memory for SQL to use before it “bottoms out” and begins paging. 1GB is enough for a small lab but if you encounter performance bottlenecks this is a place to revisit to increase the memory allocation.

Open a CMD prompt and type OSQL -E

Paste the following

sp_configure ‘show advanced options’, 1

GO

RECONFIGURE

GO

sp_configure ‘max server memory’, 1024

GO

RECONFIGURE

GO

Install ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 Beta

We’re ready to install ConfigMgr 2012 SP 1 Beta now

Launch the HTA from the installation media

Let’s check the server is ready before we get any further into the installer

Select Assess server readiness

Both of these benign warnings can be ignored

Configuration Manager requires SQL Server to reserve a minimum of 8 gigabytes (GB) of memory for the central administration site and primary site and a minimum of 4 gigabytes (GB) for the secondary site. This memory is reserved by using the Minimum server memory setting under Server Memory Options and is configured by using SQL Server Management Studio. For more information about how to set a fixed amount of memory, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=233759.

The site server might be unable to publish to Active Directory. The computer account for the site server must have Full Control permissions to the System Management container in its Active Directory domain. You can ignore this warning if you have manually verified these permissions. For more information about your options to configure required permissions, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=233190.

Nothing missing, all good.

Select OK

Now let’s Install CM 2012 SP1 Beta straight off the media with no recourse to RTM then SP1

Select Install from the HTA

Select Next

Select Next

Select Install the evaluation edition of this product or tap in a product key

Select Next

Select I accept these license terms

Select Next

Tick all three, SQL Server R2 Express, SQL server 2008 native client and Silverlight prerequisite licenses

Select Next

If you’ve already downloaded the prerequisites then Select Use previously downloaded files or let it down them into an existing folder now

Select Next

The components will be verified

Select Next

Select Next

Punch in some details, mine is Lab 2 Primary 1 which translates into L21

Select Next

Select Install the primary site as a stand-alone site

Select Next

Handy tip that later on we can upgrade

Select Yes

Select Next

Select Next

Select Configure the communication method on each site system role

Select Next

Select Next

Select Join the Customer Experience Improvement Program

Select Next

Select Next

Prerequisite checker runs again, we know it’s all good

Select Begin Install

Dig out CMTrace from the installation media, open it and associate with log files

Click the View Log button in the dialog above to open up the installation log in real time, so that you can monitor the installation if you prefer looking at log files

You can return to the installer by clicking the following icon on the task bar

Install completed successfully

Select Close

Open the ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 Beta Console

There we go, a brand new ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 Beta site to play around with. The two components with warnings are benign

SP1 brings a lot of cool new stuff, the cross-platform clients, Azure Cloud DP, mobile device management through Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync amongst others. Check out what’s new in SP1 here for a list of fun things to play around with and get to know in preparation for the actual SP1 release, as well as the release notes detailing what is knowing to be in a broken state during the Beta. You can also provide feedback to Microsoft for anything quirky that you may find during the evaluation