Monday, April 19, 2010
Deploying Windows 7 with Config Manager 2007
The next session was "Deploying Windows 7 with Config Manager 2007", a subject which will become dear to the hearts of the ops team. The lab ran through creating a Win7 image, processing for DVD/Server based distribution, scripting (read wizarding, no programming required) the migration from a Windows XP SP3 workstation up to Windows 7 using a customised PXE build process, and verification of the build, complete with re-partitioning if required, all from within the config manager console. The process was quite lengthy, and took all of the available time that I had in the lab (80 minutes), but was ultimately successful, which is very encouraging for our future use. Most of the time was spent creating the Win7 image, which of course only needs to be done once and would be done long before production deployment. The actual migration/deployment portion was pretty quick even on a VM, but I'd love to try the process on metal to see what the performance is like. Methinks I'll be building a nice little environment in STU before long.....
SCCM
My first session today was entitled "Basic Software Distribution in Config Manager v.Next"
v.Next seems to be the latest incarnation of the SCCM software suite for 2010, perhaps Mat can clarify as it wasn't very clear to me, but no matter, it pretty much rocked whatever it's called.
I was really pleased to see that the "Basic" in the title didn't mean simple or beginner - for me basic in this context means that all of the everyday stuff I'd want to do with software distribution was easy to find and very easy to manipulate. The interface is different to what I remember, but they seem to have made simple tasks much easier to manage. The tasks in this lab centred around taking an application which had been previously packaged, and sending it to the distribution points. Once set there, a simple policy change pushed the package out to my virtual clients, and based on my selected settings installed the package automatically. The process was flawless, and monitoring both the distribution points, the clients and the install status was very clear. The lab built in a deliberate error so that you could demonstrate a remote package fix and re-install from the console - very slick. This technology will make both client package and client enforced security updates a doddle to manage centrally.
v.Next seems to be the latest incarnation of the SCCM software suite for 2010, perhaps Mat can clarify as it wasn't very clear to me, but no matter, it pretty much rocked whatever it's called.
I was really pleased to see that the "Basic" in the title didn't mean simple or beginner - for me basic in this context means that all of the everyday stuff I'd want to do with software distribution was easy to find and very easy to manipulate. The interface is different to what I remember, but they seem to have made simple tasks much easier to manage. The tasks in this lab centred around taking an application which had been previously packaged, and sending it to the distribution points. Once set there, a simple policy change pushed the package out to my virtual clients, and based on my selected settings installed the package automatically. The process was flawless, and monitoring both the distribution points, the clients and the install status was very clear. The lab built in a deliberate error so that you could demonstrate a remote package fix and re-install from the console - very slick. This technology will make both client package and client enforced security updates a doddle to manage centrally.
M&Ms Store
Unfortunately the M&Ms store had run out of Coconut and peanut butter M&Ms, however we did get some pics -
How big is this hotel? It's more like a small city...
The MMS event is being held at The Venetian hotel in the heart of the Las Vegas strip, and is quite simply immense. I had thought that Treasure Island, the hotel where Mat & I are staying was huge, but I think it would fit 3 times over in The Venetian. Anywhere that takes 10 minutes from the front entrance just to the start of the conference area is big in my books. The conference centre is pretty huge too, comprising of several ballrooms, ante rooms and chambers on two floors, and is easily accommodating the 3500 or so attendees.
Mat and I arrived bright and early for registration, and I was amazed to see several hundred people already queuing up. I have to say though, the MS conferencing staff are pretty organised, and we got through registration in less than 20 minutes, which was a relief as I'd had visions of standing around for a couple of hours when I initially saw the queues.
One of the very best things about the MS events are the labs, either instructor led, or self paced. They give you the opportunity to properly play with the software in a virtual production environment which include everything you could possibly need: multiple servers and clients, and several disparate environments mixing Windows, Unix, Linux (sadly no Macs yet, can't think why...), and they provide this setup individually for up to 100 users at a time, in no less than 10 separate labs - simultaneously! Lets put that into perspective...at any one time, 1000 users can be individually rocking two or three servers, 2 workstations of multiple flavours, doing heavy duty system admin tasks and if anything goes bad for a user or you simply want to start from scratch, the whole setup can be re-provisioned in around 2 minutes. This is a real testament to how impressive virtual environments are these days, and I can't say just how impressed I am with it. I wonder how long it will be before Mars starts taking full advantage of what this technology could offer us? Dev' team, let me know, 'cause it'd make the ops and site teams jobs sooooo much easier!
Mat and I arrived bright and early for registration, and I was amazed to see several hundred people already queuing up. I have to say though, the MS conferencing staff are pretty organised, and we got through registration in less than 20 minutes, which was a relief as I'd had visions of standing around for a couple of hours when I initially saw the queues.
One of the very best things about the MS events are the labs, either instructor led, or self paced. They give you the opportunity to properly play with the software in a virtual production environment which include everything you could possibly need: multiple servers and clients, and several disparate environments mixing Windows, Unix, Linux (sadly no Macs yet, can't think why...), and they provide this setup individually for up to 100 users at a time, in no less than 10 separate labs - simultaneously! Lets put that into perspective...at any one time, 1000 users can be individually rocking two or three servers, 2 workstations of multiple flavours, doing heavy duty system admin tasks and if anything goes bad for a user or you simply want to start from scratch, the whole setup can be re-provisioned in around 2 minutes. This is a real testament to how impressive virtual environments are these days, and I can't say just how impressed I am with it. I wonder how long it will be before Mars starts taking full advantage of what this technology could offer us? Dev' team, let me know, 'cause it'd make the ops and site teams jobs sooooo much easier!
Windows 7 Deployment with MDT 2010 - A demo extravaganza
This session was interesting in the fact it's presenter was stuck in the UK due to the Icelandic Volcano, however, he had done a superb job with Camtasia and audio recordings to produce a 1 hour demo that worked as well without him being there.
I did not make many notes due to it being a long demo but it is clear to see MDT (Microsoft Deployment Toolkit) is much improved over the version I saw last time I was here. Having said that, whilst is is not a strong GUI based tool, it is still not ideal for a large enterprise. Yes it helps you deliver some customisations, Yes it is free, Yes it needs some very in depth skill, Yes it is very manual.
Can you see where I am going? I think MDT could be used very well by some of our manufacturing teams to customise a standard office build but at this stage it is not suitable for our needs. We have spent some time discussing MDT vs. Intrinsic Swimage and now having had a good look at both, I am comfortable with Mars spending money for the right tool. I see MDT as very similar to where MS started with Terminal Services, constantly they would aim at Citrix and try to catch up but always falling slightly short (due to contractual agreements). I see MDT (a personally developed tool by a few MS employees for free, for fun) in this approach. Give it a couple more years and lets see where they are then!
I did not make many notes due to it being a long demo but it is clear to see MDT (Microsoft Deployment Toolkit) is much improved over the version I saw last time I was here. Having said that, whilst is is not a strong GUI based tool, it is still not ideal for a large enterprise. Yes it helps you deliver some customisations, Yes it is free, Yes it needs some very in depth skill, Yes it is very manual.
Can you see where I am going? I think MDT could be used very well by some of our manufacturing teams to customise a standard office build but at this stage it is not suitable for our needs. We have spent some time discussing MDT vs. Intrinsic Swimage and now having had a good look at both, I am comfortable with Mars spending money for the right tool. I see MDT as very similar to where MS started with Terminal Services, constantly they would aim at Citrix and try to catch up but always falling slightly short (due to contractual agreements). I see MDT (a personally developed tool by a few MS employees for free, for fun) in this approach. Give it a couple more years and lets see where they are then!
Configuration Manager Dashboards
This lecture was much more interesting, it involved a brief discussion about Dashboards for SCCM and how Microsoft IT use them, with some demos chucked in.
Dashboards have been developed for two key personas - firstly, the business user who needs to make decisions without too much information overloads, and secondly, the IT professional, who needs 'at a glance' management, customisation and create your own abilities, as well as having a dashboard that can fit on an office plasma screen.
The dashboard itself is a freely downloadable Microsoft Solution Accelerator, and is near real time (configurable amount of minutes between refreshes). You can create lots of individual tailored dashboards (GTS might want problems, Commercial would want license compliance, IMPACT deployment %ages and so on). By default it comes with six reports - Software Update management, OS deployment, Software Distribution, Client health and OS overview. Furthermore as we deploy Sharepoint, teams can add a relevant dashboard to their team site, you don't have to always go to a dashboard. For example, GTS may have a patch deployment screen on their website to relate to calls logged.
The demo was literally less than two minutes to set up a new dashboard, the only part we may struggle with, is that it uses SQL queries (however MS provide many examples free). MS IT manage almost 261k machines via their dashboards, so an obvious improvement they took was to add a filter, this way a dashboard could be broken by site, machine model, patch etc.
(As a side note, I noticed their stats showed they manage 224k physical machines and 37k virtual, that is more virtual PCs than all of 'traditional' Mars, secondly they are 50/50 split between 32 and 64bit computing - I think this is a good suggestion of our future!)
Finally they showed the dashboard configured to suit a plasma screen, I think this would be a great addition to the Mars IS hub site screens, very simple but very rewarding!
Dashboards have been developed for two key personas - firstly, the business user who needs to make decisions without too much information overloads, and secondly, the IT professional, who needs 'at a glance' management, customisation and create your own abilities, as well as having a dashboard that can fit on an office plasma screen.
The dashboard itself is a freely downloadable Microsoft Solution Accelerator, and is near real time (configurable amount of minutes between refreshes). You can create lots of individual tailored dashboards (GTS might want problems, Commercial would want license compliance, IMPACT deployment %ages and so on). By default it comes with six reports - Software Update management, OS deployment, Software Distribution, Client health and OS overview. Furthermore as we deploy Sharepoint, teams can add a relevant dashboard to their team site, you don't have to always go to a dashboard. For example, GTS may have a patch deployment screen on their website to relate to calls logged.
The demo was literally less than two minutes to set up a new dashboard, the only part we may struggle with, is that it uses SQL queries (however MS provide many examples free). MS IT manage almost 261k machines via their dashboards, so an obvious improvement they took was to add a filter, this way a dashboard could be broken by site, machine model, patch etc.
(As a side note, I noticed their stats showed they manage 224k physical machines and 37k virtual, that is more virtual PCs than all of 'traditional' Mars, secondly they are 50/50 split between 32 and 64bit computing - I think this is a good suggestion of our future!)
Finally they showed the dashboard configured to suit a plasma screen, I think this would be a great addition to the Mars IS hub site screens, very simple but very rewarding!
Virtualisation Scenarios for MS Business Critical Apps
This session was about how to virtualise SQL, Exchange and Sharepoint using Hyper-V.
There were some interesting bits:
There were some interesting bits:
- All MS apps are built to have Hyper-V support and work well (not VMware)
- 50% of the room were planning on virtualising SQL (hands in the air poll)
- In future, we should buy SLAT compatible processors (SLAT = Second Level Address translation), basically CPU targeted at reducing the overhead virtualisation causes and helping scale more virtual machines on a physical host. AMD and Intel have versions
- Other new CPU features - AMD Hyper Transport and Intel Snoop Feature, mean that running virtual is almost as good performance wise as physical now.
- Sharepoint can be easily virtualised, unless it is a database or index server, when you need to test first.
- SQL too is now a good candidate (on Hyper-V) especially the BI components
- Exchange again is similar to Sharepoint - based on specific roles. Albeit Exchange itself as an application is not virtualisation aware.
Apart from that it was the dullest 1.5hrs of my life, not a great presenter, slides off the screen and the guy next to me snoring. I think this is one of those lectures where the title was misleading, as it was originally pitched MS Virtualisation for business critical apps and I thought it would beinteresting to see how Hyper-V is trying to address VMware, but the title in the room was different to make it application specific.
I was bored enough, I wont bore you anymore!
Welcome to Vegas!
This is my first visit to Las Vegas, so Mat & I spent the weekend 'chillaxing' wandering up and down the strip. Mat's obviously been before, and pointed out some of the attractions - to be honest for a poor country boy like me, it's all a bit overwhelming - the noise is deafening 24/7 and it's constantly busy everywhere. What doesn't help is that you can walk down to the lobby at 4am and it's as busy and loud in the perpetual twilight casinos as it is at 2pm. Trust me when I say that this does not help with jet lag! All in all though, it's pretty exciting to be here, and I'm really looking forward to the MMS .
This week, I'll be concentrating predominantly on SCCM (Systems Centre Config Manager), packaging deployment, desktop deployment and migration, with a fair smattering of SCOM (Systems Centre Operations Manager). If there is anything that you want me to investigate on your behalf, be it attending sessions or gathering information from vendors, please let me know.
The summit's content overview is here so please take a look and tell me if you need me to focus on anything I didn't mention above.
This week, I'll be concentrating predominantly on SCCM (Systems Centre Config Manager), packaging deployment, desktop deployment and migration, with a fair smattering of SCOM (Systems Centre Operations Manager). If there is anything that you want me to investigate on your behalf, be it attending sessions or gathering information from vendors, please let me know.
The summit's content overview is here so please take a look and tell me if you need me to focus on anything I didn't mention above.
Tat Tour
So the vendor expo opened....
Silly putty from NetApp - they had some components bought by MS a few years back which became MOM (MS Operations manager) and now SCOM (Systems Center Operations Manager), so maybe its because they are malleable? Or flexible and adaptive? ;-)
For those that get sore lips proselytising Windows 7
Randomly a fruit peeler....I had to ask what it was. I'm sure the Daily Mail would be outraged...
I'll let Processing know (just kidding!)
Is your head in the clouds? I like the tshirt, not sure the message is right!
Silly putty from NetApp - they had some components bought by MS a few years back which became MOM (MS Operations manager) and now SCOM (Systems Center Operations Manager), so maybe its because they are malleable? Or flexible and adaptive? ;-)
For those that get sore lips proselytising Windows 7
Randomly a fruit peeler....I had to ask what it was. I'm sure the Daily Mail would be outraged...
I'll let Processing know (just kidding!)
Is your head in the clouds? I like the tshirt, not sure the message is right!
Sustainability
Last time I was here I was asked about the Sustainability of the event, this year they have a poster -
The Server-Quarium mentioned basically has lots of plasma's telling you about the efficiency of the temporary datacenter, what bandwidth is used and so on. All good things until you factor in the power for the 8 or so screens ;-)
I'll try to get some pics later, but was a bit self conscious doing it with the couple of thousand attendeees waiting to register right next to me!
Registration Complete!
Today Colin and I arrived bright and early for registration at 8am, as did a couple of other thousand people. I have to say they did a good job of getting people queued and processed quickly. I'm sure an English person must have been involved to make the queue just right ;-)
For the morning, there are no lecture type sessions planned, so I did some self paced labs, I have spent some time in the next version of System Center Configuration Manager, currently branded v.Next. It has a completely new interface which reminds me of Outlook/MoM consoles in its layout but is no longer based on the MMC, which has been the MS admin console basis for a number of years.
A couple of interesting notes I made during the lab was that there seems to be a lot more around asset management and compliance - this seems to allow you to configure your own rules. Furthermore it has the ability to import software licenses(XML or CSV format) so I'll try to find out a bit more about that during the week. Currently we partner with a vendor called Concorde to help us with our compliance, it may be the next version of SCCM can provide more in house.
Second thing I found whilst browsing around the admin console is that they have formally introduced pre-staged media as a build option. This would allow us to provide HP/Dell with a pre-built image of a desktop/laptop/server which they can install and ship. Once on the network it would receive any changes in the meantime. This would be a pretty rapid way to deploy servers and clients and again I'll listen out for more details in the lectures.
Unfortunately due to the Icelandic Volcano many EU based attendees, vendors and speakers have not made it here, so sessions are being juggled. Today I'll be attending - Virtualisation scenarios for business critical apps, Win7 deployment with MDT and Configuration Manager Dashboard.
The Vendor Expo opens at 17.30 so I'll take a first look around and see if I can meet some of the new vendors we will be introducing to our environment with the Connex project. (Intrinsic and SCCM Expert).
For the morning, there are no lecture type sessions planned, so I did some self paced labs, I have spent some time in the next version of System Center Configuration Manager, currently branded v.Next. It has a completely new interface which reminds me of Outlook/MoM consoles in its layout but is no longer based on the MMC, which has been the MS admin console basis for a number of years.
A couple of interesting notes I made during the lab was that there seems to be a lot more around asset management and compliance - this seems to allow you to configure your own rules. Furthermore it has the ability to import software licenses(XML or CSV format) so I'll try to find out a bit more about that during the week. Currently we partner with a vendor called Concorde to help us with our compliance, it may be the next version of SCCM can provide more in house.
Second thing I found whilst browsing around the admin console is that they have formally introduced pre-staged media as a build option. This would allow us to provide HP/Dell with a pre-built image of a desktop/laptop/server which they can install and ship. Once on the network it would receive any changes in the meantime. This would be a pretty rapid way to deploy servers and clients and again I'll listen out for more details in the lectures.
Unfortunately due to the Icelandic Volcano many EU based attendees, vendors and speakers have not made it here, so sessions are being juggled. Today I'll be attending - Virtualisation scenarios for business critical apps, Win7 deployment with MDT and Configuration Manager Dashboard.
The Vendor Expo opens at 17.30 so I'll take a first look around and see if I can meet some of the new vendors we will be introducing to our environment with the Connex project. (Intrinsic and SCCM Expert).
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