Windows Server blog by Kurt Roggen [BE] : General

I’m joining SCUG.be as SCVMM blogger

Kurt Roggen — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 22:13:51 GMT

I will be (cross)posting on SCUG.be (the Belgian System Center usergroup) on both SCVMM 2008 R2 and SCVMM 2012 with 1 purpose: sharing knowledge and information.

Hope you enjoy it, too!!

Kurt Roggen [BE]

Desktop Deployment

Kurt Roggen — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:45:00 GMT

Recently, I completed a desktop deployment project of about +/- 1500 clients. I was responsible for creating the teams, guiding them technically and assist as overall architect in each of these teams and I wanted to share some information which might be interesting for your future desktop deployment projects, certainly with Windows 7 coming at you!

The overall approach of the project was to create internal workgroups (read: teams) responsible for specific areas of the project. We ended up creating 4 teams due to the limited resources on the project.

Hardware
Application Compatibility & Package Delivery
Deployment
Configuration & Feature Set

Hardware workgroup

This team is responsible for the evaluation of the future hardware platform (both desktop, laptop, tablet, screens, …), maintenance contracts, SLAs, hardware roadmap.
The objective of the workgroup is to propose a number of “hardware profiles” (read: hardware configuration), which represent hardware standards for the new platform.
We ended up with the following hardware profiles:

Power Desktop (+2 GB RAM)
Normal/Standard Desktop
Normal/Standard Laptop
Power Laptop (+2 GB RAM, HDD 7200 RPM)
Normal/Standard Tablet PC

Application Compatibility & Package Delivery workgroup

This team is responsible of inventorising all applications used within the organization and validating its application compatibility towards the new platform.
The objectives of the workgroup is to assure application compatibility for list of applications (both core and supplemental), deliver these applications in a packaged installation form and validate the overall compatibility/stability of all applications together (as a whole) on the new client platform.

Applications are split up into several groups and categories.

Groups

Core applications
Supplemental applications

Core applications are considered base applications and are common to all users/computers and will be included by default inside the image. Supplemental applications are task- or role-specific and are added afterwards in a manual, semi-automatic or automatic way.
Each application receives a weight to identify the importance in the organization.

Below you will find a list of most of the core applications:

Office 2007 MUI (EN/NL/FR) SP1 + hotfixes
Office 2007 addons (such as XPS/PDF, Calendar Print Assistant)
Adobe Acrobat 9 MUI (EN/NL/FR)
Mobile Device Center
Core OS: Powershell, Group Policy Preferences
Base platform components (providing user and helpdesk with “shortcuts” to crucial system related information)
Terminal Emulation Client (IBM)
Core business applications
Anti-virus (McAfee VirusScan & Anti-Spyware)

Another task of this team is to deliver installation packages (read: automated installations) for each of the core applications (mandatory) and for the supplemental applications (not-mandatory - depending in the population).

Configuration & Feature Set workgroup

This team is responsible for the configuration of the overall image and especially with the featureset used for the OS. The operating system used is Windows Vista Enterprise with SP1.
The objectives of this team is to deliver guidelines about the technologies to use and create design documents for these technologies and/or features and provide automation (scripts, procedures, …) necessary to configure those.

Below you find a list of some of the topics and/or features that were tackled:

Folder Redirection
Offline Files and Folders
MUI Language packs (EN/FR/NL)
Bitlocker
Remote Assistance/Remote Desktop
Power Management
Internet Explorer
Network Access Protection (NAP)
Powershell
Printing
UI branding & restriction
Security Hardening
Driver injection (offline and online: local, network)
Windows Recovery Environment

An important focus for this workgroup/team is on

Group Policies
Group Policy Preferences
Automation through scripting

Deployment workgroup

This team is responsible for designing the approach for desktop deployment and building an management infrastructure.
The objective of this team is to deliver guidelines about the deployment process, deliver the final image and provide automation for a simple and smooth deployment process.

The pre-staging of the image was done in the factory by the OEM. When delivering the machines and attaching them to the network the “post-installation configuration” proceeds.
This process changes the randomly-generated computername to a custom-provided computername (following the naming conventions) and sets some defaults (MUI language, OU location, printers, …) based on the physical location of the client computer (using Active Directory Sites and Services).

When a minor problem prevents the system/OS from starting, the installed Windows RE will kick in and attempt an automated system repair.

When a major problem prevents the system from starting or the system/applications are not behaving as required, a recovery-solution was developed based on Windows PE and Windows Imaging (.wim) which allows a complete system restore to be done within 20 minutes, bringing the system back to its initial installation state.

When required, a technician can initiate a local reinstallation (using USB disk) or network-based reinstallation (using WDS – Windows Deployment Services). The approach depends on the local network connectivity of course.

When a serious hardware problem arises, a clean (read: pre-staged) client machine is delivered within the respected hardware SLA and the user continue to work once the “post-installation configuration” process completes.

I hope this has given you some idea about the overall approach and technologies used in a typical desktop deployment project.

MVP Award: Management Infrastructure

Kurt Roggen — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 10:21:00 GMT

I’m proud to announce and pleased to see that Microsoft has recognized all my contributions made in the past, by awarding me with the MVP title in “Management Infrastructure”.

In the end, nothing really changes… I will keep doing what I have been doing so far: sharing knowledge and information.

Hope you enjoy it, too!!
Kurt

Belgian Community Day 2008

Kurt Roggen — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:29:00 GMT

Yesterday, I was speaking about “Windows Server 2008: 10 reasons to upgrade” at the Belgian “Community Day 2008” (an event organized by all Belgian Microsoft-focused User Groups).
Here are some of the usergroups present: SQL Server User Group, System Center User Group, Exchange User Group, Visual Studio User Group, Windows Security User Group, etc…

If you are wondering what they are, here’s a quick list:

10 Reasons to upgrade to Windows Server 2008

1. Server Management Improvements – Server Manager, PowerShell, Group Policies (GPO/GPP)
2. Deployment Improvements - Windows Imaging, Windows Deployment Services
3. Web & Application platform - IIS 7.0 & .NET 3.0
4. Server Core
5. Security Improvements - RODC, NAP, Bitlocker
6. Failover Clustering
7. Presentation Virtualisation - Terminal Services (RemoteApps, Easy Print, TS Gateway, TS Session Broker)
8. Server Virtualisation: Hyper-V
9. Branch Office Improvements – RODC, Server Core, Role Seperation, DFS-R/DFS-N, Restartable AD
10.Works better together with Windows Vista

Anyway, you can download the full presentation here.

Windows Server 2008 Trials

Kurt Roggen — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 11:43:20 GMT

Evaluate Windows Server 2008 free for 60 days (extendable to 240 days) or register for a guided evaluation experience and receive periodic e-mail with links to valuable technical resources.

Editions available for evaluation:

Windows Server 2008 Standard (x86 and x64)
Windows Server 2008 Enterprise (x86 and x64)
Windows Server 2008 Datacenter (x86 and x64)
Windows Web Server 2008 (x86 and x64)
Windows Server 2008 for Itanium-Based Systems

TechDays 2008 - speaker engagements

Kurt Roggen — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 07:12:04 GMT

For the 4th year in a row I will be speaking on Dev&ITPro Days, now rebranded into TechDays!
This year (like last year) I will be doing another session on Group Policies and another on "Deploying Windows Server 2008".
You can find the abstracts below. Find more information on the TechDays 2008 website.

Hope to see you there as well. And don't forget to pass by and say hello!

Group Policy Infrastructure in Windows Server 2008

Learn about the new Group Policy features in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, including the new format and functionality of Administrative Template (ADMX) files and interoperability with legacy ADM files, the ADMX central store, improved awareness of changing network conditions, using multiple local Group Policy Objects (MLGPOs), Group Policy templates, Group Policy Filtering and the new Group Policy Preferences (GPP).
Group Policy Preferences Extensions significantly extend the scope of Group Policy to include areas such as drive mapping, folder creation, shortcuts, scheduled tasks and many more. Additionally, new features such as setting-level targeting and the elimination of “tattooing” provide greater control over where and how policy settings are applied.
We will provide an introduction to the products acquired from DesktopStandard and discuss their future availability and roadmap.

Deploying Windows Server 2008

Learn about the deployment options & features in Windows Server 2008 including Windows Deployment Services (WDS) and multicasting, Windows Imaging, Microsoft Deployment.
Microsoft Deployment Solution Accelerator is the next version of Business Desktop Deployment (BDD) 2007 and provides deployment automation and task sequencing for Windows Server 2008 to support deployment of both server and desktop infrastructure. We will have a look at deploying both Windows Server 2008 full installations and Server Core installations, including Server Roles, Role Services and Features.

White Paper: Changes in Functionality from Windows Server 2003 with SP1 to Windows Server 2008 - Final version (v6.0)

Kurt Roggen — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:55:28 GMT

The document describes new features and technologies, which were not available in Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1, that will help to increase the security of computers running Windows Server 2008, increase productivity, and reduce administrative overhead.

These topics apply to the next release of Windows Server 2008, based on the functionality expected to be included in the Beta releases in 2007. They do not describe all of the changes that are included in Windows Server 2008. Instead, they highlight changes that will potentially have the greatest impact on your use of Windows Server 2008 and provide references to additional information.

Released on 7th Feb 2008, version 6.0, containing 341 pages of reading pleasure...

Download here

Windows Server Performance Team & Windows Server 2008

Kurt Roggen — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 06:35:01 GMT

"It's February 1, 2008. Only twenty-six more days until Windows Server 2008 is released to the world. With that in mind, we have twenty-six posts lined up between now and February 27 covering areas of Windows Server 2008 that contain both general information as well as specific posts that are relevant to what we support here on the Performance team."

So far, they have posted:

And the story continues... Keep looking at the Ask the Performane Team Blog

Windows Server 2008 is available on Technet Plus

Kurt Roggen — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:37:17 GMT

Windows Server 2008 is now live and available to all TechNet Plus subscribers from TechNet Plus Subscriber Downloads. The following software editions and languages are now available:

Windows Server 2008 Datacenter, Enterprise and Standard (x64) - English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish
Subscriber Downloads and Product Keys
Windows Automated Installation Kit 1.1 (x86, x64, ia64) - English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish
Top Subscriber Downloads
Windows Server 2008 Multilingual User Interface Language Pack (x64) - English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish
Top Subscriber Downloads

Additional editions and language versions will be made available over the next few weeks. Please keep your eye out for the following upcoming editions.

It's time: Windows Server 2008 is RTM (Released To Manufacturing)

Kurt Roggen — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 20:41:04 GMT

Microsoft released Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 to manufacturing on February 4.

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) was released to manufacturing today and will start being available to customers in March, starting with Microsoft Volume Licensing customers.
Windows Server 2008 was also released to manufacturing today and will be available for purchase to new customers on March 1. Microsoft Volume Licensing customers with active Microsoft Software Assurance coverage or an Enterprise Agreement will be able to download the server software toward the end of February as part of the joint Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 “Heroes Happen Here” launch event.

For more information: Microsoft Press Release

Prepare for {the future}

Kurt Roggen — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 15:10:46 GMT

To help you get started with Windows Server 2008, Microsoft Australia launched the Windows Server 2008 TechNet Portal.

Upgrading to Windows Server 2008... soon...

Kurt Roggen — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 09:54:41 GMT

Heroes happen {here} & TechDays 2008

Kurt Roggen — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 22:53:33 GMT

"March 11 sees the official launch of brand new versions of Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008. But what the day is really about are the everyday heroes who transform our products into powerful products for solving real IT problems at work. In other words, you!

We are calling it Heroes Happen Here. And we're proud to invite miracle workers like yourself, not only to the launch itself, but also to our TechDays 2008 (previous known as Developer & IT Pro Days). A series of technical sessions that take place on 12th and 13th March, during which IT professionals and developers alike will get the chance to go into every single aspect of each pack. So if you'd like to boost your powers even further, this is one event you don't want to miss."

For more information: www.heroeshappenhere.be

Windows Server 2008 RC2 (Release Candidate 2)

Kurt Roggen — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 13:34:52 GMT

So there are some rumors, even doubts about another release candidate (RC2) before shipping the product of for RTM (Release To Manufucturing). Well, Microsoft has actually revealed that by accident...

The Windows Server 2008 build including the Hyper-V Beta is a newer build/compile (6001.17119) than the originally released Windows Server 2008 RC1 (6001.17051). Now here's the funny part, Microsoft already included the updated EULA which directly mentions RC2. Although this doesn't mean anything, it seems logic for Microsoft to release one more release candidate before shipping the product. It wouldn't make sense to add some quite big changes in RC1 (such as Group Policy Preferences) and not take feedback for customer and testers...

To be continued...

Relating reading:

Microsoft Beta Client (MBC)

Kurt Roggen — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 23:42:22 GMT

Several people have asked in various forums how to file a bug directly with Microsoft for issues they experience on Windows Server 2008.

The Microsoft Beta Client (MBC) application allows a user to file an issue report on a Microsoft beta release based on a product template loaded into the MBC. At this time, the MBC ships only with a product template for Windows reports.

You can download this client from the following URL: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=43655