System Center | Tom's Notes

Giveaway – SCVMM 2016 Cookbook, 3rd by Packt

By Tomica Kaniski in Other 09/07/2018 0 Comment

This time I have something to share – kind people at Packt are giving away 10 copies of System Center 2016 Virtual Machine Manager Cookbook – Third Edition eBook, written by my colleagues Roman Levchenko and Edvaldo Alessandro Cardoso.

All you have to do is contact me using the form in About section, with your name and e-mail address (and a short note that this is about the book giveaway :)) and I’ll be happy to add you to the list.

Once I collect ten of you, I’ll share the list with Packt and they will send you an email with the free eBook.

If you like the book, you can also leave a short review on Amazon.

Cheers!

P.S. As a technical reviewer of this book, I may be a bit biased, but this book is still a great Virtual Machine Manager (2016) resource! 🙂

UPDATE: Big thanks to all that entered the giveaway, now it’s over – I’ve sent info for Dražen, Ljubo, Matt, Sean, Steven, René, Anko, Bob, Johannes and Thomas to Packt (first come, first served). I hope you’ll get your books soon (and that you enjoy them)!

Deploying Linux machines by using System Center 2016: Virtual Machine Manager templates

By Tomica Kaniski in Other 04/09/2017 0 Comment

In light of “Microsoft loves Linux” initiative, you can now deploy your Linux virtual machines by using templates in the System Center 2016: Virtual Machine Manager. As I was searching on how to do this (successfully), there were couple of articles that helped, so I’ve decided to do a short list of all the necessary steps (in one place).

Steps to make your Linux VM template deployments work:

create a new (Generation 2) virtual machine (as you would normally do)
install the Linux operating system in that virtual machine (as you would normally do)
- HINT: A list of supported Linux distributions and versions on Hyper-V is available here.
install the Linux Integration Services (LIS) (as per this post):
- open the “modules” file
  
  Shell
  
  sudo nano /etc/initramfs-tools/modules
  
  1
  
  sudo nano /etc/initramfs-tools/modules
- add the following to the end of this file:
  
  hv_vmbus hv_storvsc hv_blkvsc hv_netvsc
  
  1
  2
  3
  4
  
  hv_vmbus
  hv_storvsc
  hv_blkvsc
  hv_netvsc

- save it (Ctrl+X and Y)
- install LIS and reboot the machine by using the following commands:
  
  Shell
  
  sudo apt-get install --install-recommends linux-tools-virtual-lts-xenial linux-cloud-tools-virtual-lts-xenial sudo update-initramfs -u sudo reboot
  
  1
  2
  3
  
  sudo apt-get install --install-recommends linux-tools-virtual-lts-xenial linux-cloud-tools-virtual-lts-xenial
  sudo update-initramfs -u
  sudo reboot
- check if the services are running by using the command:
  
  Shell
  
  sudo lsmod
  
  1
  
  sudo lsmod
install the Virtual Machine Manager agent (as per this post):
- share the folder C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2016\Agents\Linux on your VMM machine
- copy the VMM agent files to Linux virtual machine
  - as a real Windows admin, I did it through the GUI
- install the agent:
  
  Shell
  
  sudo ./install scvmmguestagent.1.0.2.1075.x64.tar
  
  1
  
  sudo ./install scvmmguestagent.1.0.2.1075.x64.tar
fix the boot for Generation 2 virtual machine (boot information is by default stored in the VM configuration file, not on disk – Ben wrote a great article on this “issue”)
- Ben’s way (didn’t work for me):
  - change directory to the boot EFI directory
    
    Shell
    
    sudo cd /boot/efi/EFI
    
    1
    
    sudo cd /boot/efi/EFI
  - copy the ubuntu directory in to a new directory named boot
    
    Shell
    
    sudo cp -r ubuntu/ boot
    
    1
    
    sudo cp -r ubuntu/ boot
  - change directory to the newly created boot directory
    
    Shell
    
    sudo cd boot
    
    1
    
    sudo cd boot
  - rename the shimx64.efi file
    
    Shell
    
    sudo mv shimx64.efi bootx64.efi
    
    1
    
    sudo mv shimx64.efi bootx64.efi
- TriJetScud’s way in the comments (worked for me with Ubuntu 16.04 Generation 2 VM):
  
  Shell
  
  sudo grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --no-nvram --removable
  
  1
  
  sudo grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --no-nvram --removable
shutdown the virtual machine and copy its VHDX to the VMM Library
- HINT: Don’t forget to refresh the VMM Library.
go to the VMM Library, right-click the copied VHDX and select the Create VM template option
proceed with creating the template as you normally would, to the part Configure Operating System
- HINT: If you are using Secure boot, don’t forget to select the MicrosoftUEFICertificateAuthority template in hardware settings.
there, under Guest OS profile, you select the option to create a new Linux operating system customization settings
next you specify your guest OS settings and finish creating the template
now you can create a new Linux virtual machine from the template you’ve configured!

Hope it helps!

Cheers!

Updates and Recommendations not working in SCOM 2016

By Tomica Kaniski in Other 30/03/2017 0 Comment

Not so long ago, there was a thread about this issue on TechNet Forums – long story short, in some cases (if you didn’t do a clean installation of System Center 2016 – Operations Manager, for example), the shiny, new feature called Updates and Recommendations didn’t work.

Even better – there was a rather cryptic error saying “An error occurred while displaying the Updates and Recommendations view. This might be because the database query has encountered an error…”.

So… it looks that maybe the database query has indeed “encountered an error”.

What can we do to make sure and resolve this?

As the user Chandra Bose suggested, we can look for duplicates in our imported management packs… and maybe we will be smarter then.

PowerShell command we can use:

Get-SCManagementPack | sort -Property Name | ft Name,Version -AutoSize

1	Get-SCManagementPack \| sort -Property Name \| ft Name,Version -AutoSize

This will list our imported management packs and their versions, and we can start looking for duplicate(s).

In my case, there were some – some of them were the two management packs called Microsoft.SystemCenter.WebApplicationSolutions.Library.Resources.*.

To get a better look on those two, we can use the following command:

Get-SCManagementPack | where {$_.Name -like "Microsoft.SystemCenter.WebApplicationSolutions.Library.Resources.*"}

1	Get-SCManagementPack \| where {$_.Name -like "Microsoft.SystemCenter.WebApplicationSolutions.Library.Resources.*"}

And the output looks like this:

This shows that we really have two “duplicate” management packs in our SCOM database, one installed in 2013, and another in 2014 (why? and how? don’t really matter Smile ). We need to remove one, obviously.

For that, we can use the following command (by using the Id property from previous command):

Get-SCManagementPack -Id "09988ce5-edea-8ed2-868a-0ecc1193338b" | Remove-SCManagementPack

1	Get-SCManagementPack -Id "09988ce5-edea-8ed2-868a-0ecc1193338b" \| Remove-SCManagementPack

And, if there are no more duplicates, our Updates and Recommendations view should work now:

Hope this helps.

Cheers!

Advanced Technology Days 12

By Tomica Kaniski in Other 20/11/2016 0 Comment

Another Advanced Technology Days are now behind us.

It was a great conference, with so many familiar faces (and so many new ones). I didn’t like this year’s venue as much as the last one (let’s be honest – nothing beats a movie theater! Smile ), but it was fine – it’s always about the great people, not the venue itself.

This year I was speaking about the new System Center 2016 suite and, judging by the full room (thank you!), this topic is very hot right now. I really like the new features in Virtual Machine Manager and the new “speedy” Operations Manager (with web portal which finally works in “modern” browsers Smile ).

Slides (which are actually customized Microsoft Ignite slides – thank you), are uploaded to my SlideShare.

And now… looking forward to Advanced Technology Days 13. Smile

Cheers!

P.S. Thanks for the pics – Goran & Igor!

Advanced Technology Days (ATD) 10 – recap

By Tomica Kaniski in Other 14/11/2014 0 Comment

Another great conference is behind us – Advanced Technology Days 10 (or just ATD 10). Two-day conference, Wednesday and Thursday, about the latest and greatest from Microsoft, just in time for some of the important announcements, and with more than a glimpse into the future of technology – pretty cool. Smile

I’ve had two sessions – on Wednesday, I’ve had a session called “Što nam donosi Windows Server vNext (Technical Preview)?” (or “What’s new in Windows Server vNext (Technical Preview)?”), where I’ve outlined the major news in this prerelease version of the next Windows Server. There really is a lot to talk about, as Windows Server vNext brings so many news, even in this, somewhat early, stage in development cycle.

The session that I’ve had on Thursday was called “Što nam donosi System Center vNext (Technical Preview)?” (or “What’s new in System Center vNext (Technical Preview)?”), and there I’ve shown what is there in Technical Preview today with the preview of the new Microsoft Azure Operational Insights, which also entered the “public preview” phase during the conference. You can sign up and try it at https://opinsights.azure.com/.

Overall experience was great – once again located in a movie theatre, with lots of great people, networking, combined with a flawless demo experience (plug ’n’ play) and great timing… actually, I can’t wait for Advanced Technology Days vNext! Smile

I’m so happy that I was invited to speak (big thanks to all involved!), and got the opportunity to participate with my view on all the great stuff included in those releases of very important products.

More info is available at http://atd.mscommunity.hr/ and https://www.facebook.com/MicrosoftATD.

Cheers!

Hosts have “Needs Attention” status after installing the VMM 2012 R2 UR4

By Tomica Kaniski in Other 03/11/2014 0 Comment

For those who installed the Update Rollup 4 for System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager, you may be facing this somewhat “strange issue” right after the installation – your hosts will have the “Needs Attention” status.

And now the “strange” part – if you open the host Properties window, and check the Status tab, you’ll may see that everything is green.

So, what needs the attention then?
The answer is – VMM agent needs the attention, and that’s the cause of this “issue” (you’ll need to run Update Agent action on affected hosts).

And, finally, status of your hosts should be OK again.

Hope this helps!

P.S. Read the KB document thoroughly – there is a part which mentions the manual update of System Center Virtual Machine Manager DHCP Server (x64) component. It should be like this:

Just released – Veeam Management Pack v7

By Tomica Kaniski in Other 07/08/2014 0 Comment

Guys at Veeam have released a new version of their management pack for System Center – Veeam® Management Pack™ v7 (now with Hyper-V support, which is kind of a big deal for those running Hyper-V & Veeam)!

As they say on their website – “This new version is the most comprehensive, intuitive and intelligent extension for app-to-metal management of Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware vSphere and Veeam Backup & Replication™.”

One interesting thing about the product is that it now offers the same features for monitoring, reporting and capacity planning for both hypervisors. You’ll get:

Interactive topology views of compute, storage and network
Real-time Hyper-V performance monitoring
In-context dashboards and heat maps

More detailed info is available here.

They also have a very cool offer – here you can request a free product license (Enterprise edition) including one year of free Standard maintenance for Hyper-V environments up to 100 sockets (offer available until December 31, 2014).

So… grab your license and start exploring! Smile

Need a Book for the Beach?

By Tomica Kaniski in Other 17/07/2014 0 Comment

I’m happy to announce that our MVP colleague, Alessandro Cardoso got published again. His book, System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager Cookbook, got an update to the latest System Center version and much more!

I’m also happy that I was selected as a Technical Reviewer of this book and, in a (small) way, helped in creating this awesome resource. My final copy arrived just this morning, and I can’t wait to read it (again). Smile

You can find more info about it (as well as order your copy) here.

Cheers!

Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager: High availability and performance tuning

By Tomica Kaniski in Other, Review 18/02/2014 0 Comment

Not so long ago, I’ve got yet another book from Packt Publishing – “Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager: High availability and performance tuning“, written by a fellow MVP, Marius Sandbu.

As someone who is not an Configuration Manager expert, I’ve really enjoyed reading this book.

Why? Because it provides great reference list of all the things that make Configuration Manager deployment highly available (from Active Directory and SQL to the Configuration Manager components), packed in a great format (not too long, about 150 pages), and well-written. It also provides, from my perspective, high-level steps that can be taken to fine-tune your deployment – an aspect of the deployment which is usually forgotten.

I would recommend this book to anyone that needs to learn about the principles of high availability and performance tuning of Configuration Manager – it’s not a long read, it will save you some time and certainly help you get started right away! However, if you need deep-down information about specific component, in a “Bible” format, you’ll need to grab at least one additional book…

You can order this book here.

System Center 2012 SP1 CTP2 published!

By Tomica Kaniski in Other 16/06/2012 0 Comment

Yesterday Microsoft published System Center 2012 Service Pack 1 CTP2. I was using the CTP1, and was missing some of the features, but now they seem fixed (however, it’s to early to tell, ‘cause the download is still running Smile ).

One thing that I was missing just yesterday, during my training about Microsoft cloud solutions, was the support for Azure VM in App Controller – it’s on the list; can’t wait to try it out!

Other notable improvements and updates are:

Virtual Machine Manager
- Improved Support for Network Virtualization
- Extend the VMM console with Add-ins
- Support for Windows Standards-Based Storage Management Service, thin provisioning of logical units and discovery of SAS storage
- Ability to convert VHD to VHDX, use VHDX as base Operating System image
Configuration Manager
- Support for Windows 8
- Support for Mac OS clients
- Support for Linux and Unix servers
Data Protection Manager
- Improved backup performance of Hyper-V over CSV 2.0
- Protection for Hyper-V over remote SMB share
- Protection for Windows Server 2012 de-duplicated volumes
- Uninterrupted protection for VM live migration
App Controller
- Service Provider Foundation API to create and operate Virtual Machines
- Support for Azure VM; migrate VHDs from VMM to Windows Azure, manage from on-premise System Center
Operations Manager
- Support for IIS 8
- Monitoring of WCF, MVC and .NET NT services
- Azure SDK support
Orchestrator
- Additional support for Integration Packs, including 3rd party
- Manage VMM self-service User Roles
- Manage multiple VMM ‘stamps’ (scale units), aggregate results from multiple stamps
- Integration with App Controller to consume Hosted clouds
Service Manager
- Apply price sheets to VMM clouds
- Create chargeback reports
- Pivot by cost center, VMM clouds, Pricesheets
Server App-V
- Support for applications that create scheduled tasks during packaging
- Create virtual application packages from applications installed remotely on native server

I’ll install them in my lab during the weekend and then we’ll see…

Have a nice weekend!