New Name, New Look

Being a Configuration Manager administrator is awesome. I love my job and I love the product I get to work with most. One of the best things about SCCM is the incredible community that is associated to it.

Configuration Manager has been repeatedly classified as Microsoft's toughest product to install and maintain. Whether this is still relevant or true, is a matter of opinion of course, but there are some definite challenges to the product. Makes it all the more fun, right?

It is my hope to become a better blogger and a better ConfigMgr admin, and I want to share that experience with the same community that has gotten me this far. I consider myself a junior ConfigMgr admin. I cannot present deep technical sessions, host trainings, or even pass the 70-243 exam, but I enjoy working with SCCM tons and want to continue. Additionally, I believe that the community is mostly responsible for driving this product, and I hope that jumping in forces me to get outside of my comfort zone some more and start learning the product on a deeper level. If you are interested, follow me on Twitter @gwchandler.

Look for a post regarding my TechEd North America 2014 experience coming later this week or early next week!

SCCM 2012 SP1 – There are no task sequences available to this computer

Came across a weird issue yesterday where a machine had been imaged and the wrong task sequence was selected. Usually not a big deal, but in this case the TS that was selected didn't have drivers for that model to be imported. Because of the lack of network driver, the image did not join the domain and the TS after applying the WIM. 

Again, not a big deal, just reimage again, right? However, after the initial attempt, we couldn't. The client booted into PXE server fine, boot image started up, but right after preparing network connections the screen would go black and the machine would restart. Thankfully I had command-line support enabled on the boot image with CMTrace in there, and I was able to hit F8 to find out what happening. The log files revealed the message below. 

Sorry for the poor quality....

No task sequence associated? It imaged before. Not now? Turns out the computer record was wiped from the ConfigMgr database so the computer was no longer "known" or managed, but also not "unknown" as it must have recognized the SMBIOSGUID, or something. I'm still unsure of why it was out in "La-la land", but nonetheless it was. Did some research and found these three extremely helpful blog posts (thanks, guys!):

http://henkhoogendoorn.blogspot.com/2012/10/unknown-computer-bug-in-configmgr-2012.html

http://verbalprocessor.com/2012/04/06/unknown-computer-bug-in-configuration-manager-2012/

http://verbalprocessor.com/2012/04/17/unknown-computer-bugupdate/

However, after following them, I deleted all Unknown computers (not the default x86 and x64 ones - be aware) I still couldn't image the client and the log files still showed the same message. My SMBIOSGUID, UUID, or MAC address never matched. Searched all machines and couldn't find it. So, next logical thing to do was to import the computer data manually and add it to the ConfigMgr databse, since it apparently wasn't in there. I did so, no luck. Dang...forgot to approve it. Went back and approved it....BAM. Found its task sequences and imaged beautifully. 

I guess it's the fact it didn't join the domain after the image, before the Windows and ConfigMgr Setup task took place is the culprit. Hard to say if it bug or by design, though the above says it's by design. 

Also note that we had another instance, and before F-disking the hard drive and wiping it clean (bad move) we joined that machine to the domain and it could image again, without manually importing computer in ConfigMgr. Hope this made some sense and helps someone. 

TechEd 2013: My Thoughts

This past week I attended my first TechEd. TechEd opened my eyes to many thing, many of which I will note here. For those who don't know, TechEd is a conference hosted by Microsoft for IT Professionals and Developers. Mostly centered around Microsoft products and solutions, IT guys from all over the nation attend this event. 

This was not only my first TechEd but my first major IT conference in general. Because my passion mostly lies within Microsoft technologies, I've waiting to attend this conference ever since I heard about it years ago. And it wasn't a disappointment. 

The first day consisted of attending the Keynote session. Brad Anderson, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, with the assistance of some other IT professionals delivered the presentation. This is typically where Microsoft announces new products, updates, or revisions of current technologies as well as success stories for major corporations. At this keynote, Microsoft unveiled a few things: 

• Windows 8.1 
• Windows Server 2012 R2 
• System Center 2012 R2  (WOOT!)
• SQL Server 2014 
• Updates to Windows Intune, Azure, and Visual Studio 
  
  

This is was special for me, since this was my first opportunity to be able to experience a new product announcement first hand, instead of through a computer screen. I was excited and very intrigued, hanging onto every word that was spoken and idea that was expressed. It was a slight moment of surrealism, as I realized I was accompanied by brilliant minds, but more importantly, passionate geeks. I don't get that opportunity enough. After the keynote was finished, we were quickly dismissed to one of seven available foundational sessions left to our discretion.  

As I left, I didn't realize this keynote would set the stage for the rest of my week, and the conference. You see, being my first TechEd I was under the impression there were over 400 sessions available to attendees, where we could dive deep into Microsoft technologies and receive training on, essentially, how to do our jobs better. I was looking for foundational overviews, how to use certain and products, and use cases for when we would harness and utilize the power that these products contain. I was not wrong, but I was not right, either.  

The first two days I noticed my expectations of the conference not being met, but nonetheless my appetite for learning and engagement with peers, remaining full. I was beginning to understand the way the conference works, however, with slight disappointment. As I continued to ponder on this, I came to the realization that the disappointment was not in the conference, but in myself. Though there were some foundational and overview sessions, most almost felt like commercials or advertisements for the new products Microsoft has recently released or about to release. And they were, but not quite like it sounds. They were more in depth, and targeted to the IT Pros who had already adopted previous releases of Microsoft technologies, and who had years upon years of experience in the IT field. The new features and new ways of doing their jobs mattered to them, since they've actually been working with the products for a fair amount of time. The constant applause was a big indicator. Granted, not ALL sessions were power sessions, some were great foundational sessions. The leads me into the basic idea of what the purpose of TechEd serves. I didn't have the words to describe it up until the day 3, where I believe (could be wrong - didn't go back and listen) it was at Mark Minasi's session Pieces of 8: Prospecting for Windows 8 Gold, where I heard it phrased. Ironically, this is one of the very friendly sessions that doubles as both in depth, but also foundational. The paraphrased idea was this: TechEd was designed and centered around teaching the science of the technology, not the art.  

This immediately got me thinking. What makes a successful IT Professional is their ability to be creative, and form viable solutions with various products and technologies, not just knowing the product your are working with. What matters is how you use it. It's a simple and common idea, but what I didn't realize was this is not what TechEd is for. It's the step behind. In order to make art, you have to have the paint. These sessions are the paint. It's up to you do the work. If you want someone to teach you how to paint a masterpiece, you hire a master painter (or in this case a consultant). Most masterpieces also contain more than one color. The blending of colors, can make or break the masterpiece. (except abstract art haha) In the same sense, technology solutions contain more than one product or technology. It's the blending of those products and technologies, and the way they interact, that result in a solution.

TechEd offers many reasons to attend, other than just sessions, that I haven't mentioned yet, such as opportunities to meet members of the IT community and network, interact with Microsoft product development teams and MVPs, visit vendor booths for additional products that extend upon Microsoft technologies, certification testing, labs (both hands on and instructor led), and much more. 

All in all, even though it was not quite what I anticipated, it was definitely one of the greatest IT events I've ever had the privilege of attending, and a highlight of my career.  Being able to connect with the product groups and MVP's was incredible. I actually solved three of my own issues related to SCCM with their help. I have high hopes that I may get to return again sometime in the near future. TechEd made me better in many ways, not just in Microsoft technology education. I was cultured in a way that makes me a better IT Pro, employee, co-worker, and leader. Though I'm sure others will disagree with this. I'd be curious to see if past attendees feel the same or different than I do, as this was just my first TechEd. Keep in mind, I'm also fairly new as an IT Professional...and I use that term loosely. Just wanted to share are my thoughts running through my head since the end of last week. 

Software Updates Deployment Error

This week I enabled the Software Updates feature. I used a separate IIS web site instance for these updates, which configures the server ports 8530/31 to be the ports that the clients will connect to, versus 80/443. WSUS installations went smoother than silk, and the Software Updates role enabled with no errors on first go-round. First time I've added a role that didn't result in errors immediately after installation. I'm getting better. ;) I even synced to Microsoft Update, pulled updates of my selected products down, and downloaded them to the network share where the distribution point will grab them from. However, once I deployed the updates, the clients did not receive the updates. I was confused as to why, until I checked the logs in C:\Windows\CCM\Logs on the clients.

I started out with UpdatesDeployment.log and saw this message repeated:

Obviously this error does not tell me much, but did confirm that the client is receiving the deployment but cannot continue due to this error and the updates will be made available for install on this machine.

After further checking, I looked at the WUAHandler.log and noticed this gem:

Group policy. Of course. I bet my GPO's were still pointing the clients to the old WSUS server. Sure enough changed the policy to the FQDN (make sure you do this - ex: http://myserver.company.com:8530) and the updates started flowing through the SCCM client on the machines. Huge achievement. Hope this can help someone! Endpoint integration coming up next! Hoping for a smooth transition from FCS.....(^_^')

SCU2013

I attended System Center Universe today for the first time. Incredible experience! The lineup of experts was awesome. Just wanted to thank them all for all they did and continue to do for the ever-growing system center community. You guys make it possible for guys like me to succeed.

Because I only work with ConfigMgr, Wally Meads presentation was by far my favorite with Dan Anderson's presentation on Windows Intune coming in a close second. So much information in such a short presentation.

Funny moment of the day: had lunch with Jason Sandys and had no idea! We talked, but not about SCCM, which of course now I regret because I could have picked his brain! Course, he didn't let that on so maybe he didn't want to haha.

I doubt I can go next year, but if the opportunity arises I will definitely try. Thanks to all, especially Catapult Systems for all their hard work and making the event a very real success.

Application Catalog Install

The application catalog is a new feature to ConfigMgr. Personally, I'm excited for this feature a lot, because it will help make my job easier, as well really glorifying the user-centric model that ConfigMgr 2012 is known for adopting.

The application catalog requires two roles on the site server to and requires some pre-reqs before they can be added. My first attempt to install the catalog, resulted in errors that stated ASP.NET was not installed. Well, I know for fact that ASP.NET was installed. I did it during my original go-round of installing the various roles and features on the server, during the IIS configuration, and it even said so when I went back to verify. After some quick Googling I realized I did not register ASP.NET. Had no idea I had to. So, back to Google, I learned the command to do so. I opened an elevated command prompt and entered:

"%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\aspnet_regiis.exe" -i

When I attempted this I received the following message:

Ah. Doesn't' work that way with Server 2012. Great. Back to Google. Eventually I stumbled upon the PowerShell command to install ASP.NET. Figured I'd give it a try, knowing that if it is already installed, the command will do nothing and state it is already installed. 

Install-WindowsFeature web-asp-net

Install-WindowsFeature web-asp-net45

Low and behold the first asp net command did install missing asp as it was not installed, and additionally registered it! So, I attempted to reinstall web service point and website roles and to my surprise.....still no luck. New error. WCF is not activated. What is WCF? It stands for Windows Communication Foundation. I had to do some research and found it was definitely necessary. Check out the following article for more information, here. 

Going back into the Roles and Services of Server Manager, I went to .NET Framework and found that the HTTP Activation and Non-HTTP Activation check boxes were not checked - so I checked them.

I removed and reinstalled the roles one last time....and voila! Victory was mine. Simple fixes with pre-reqs on your server to makes sure everything will work fine once roles are installed may be a time saver and definitely more efficient, but sometimes, figuring it out on your own helps you learn. Today I learned many things about ASP.NET, .NET Framework, IIS, and ConfigMgr (and how they integrate and work together) as I spent the afternoon troubleshooting. Hope you find the above information helpful and can benefit from it!

As a side note: I'll be attending System Center Universe 2013 later this week in Dallas, TX! Getting excited for the event! If you haven't registered yet...what are you waiting for? Go register here! 

It's been awhile....

To be honest, I kinda forgot I was blogging about my adventure until the other day and have since just gotten around to it. It's a been a crazy ride, I'm not but even a quarter of the way through, and I've already learned a ton.

First things first...lets catch up. The last time I blogged was well before Christmas, and I was implementing my ConfigMgr 2012 beta into a lab environment. After Christmas break, we decided to start over, and do the real thing. So I wiped the servers, put Server 2012 back on, and began my journey again. This one is much more interesting.

To start off, let me just say I love SANs...and I hate them. Once the servers were wiped, our EMC agent had to be loaded back on for the drives to come through  Now, if only the EMC supported Server 2012 with their agent fully. But with Linda's help again, we got the drives back and I got them formatted to start over.

Of course I followed the law of the west, and configured the servers completely correct before installing ConfigMgr. Once I installed ConfigMgr, I took my trainer Kent Agerlund's advice with post-SQL install configurations. I needed his help as I was confused on the databases and how many additional ones I needed. Once I got the facts semi-straight (number of processors and cores and RAM in the server, and the number of clients in my environment), I had him confirm my thinking (which he corrected) in order to proceed. (Thanks again, Kent!) I created seven additional databases INSIDE SQL. Yep, first query I've ever run in full-blown-out SQL. And, I did it right the first time. I was proud. ;)

The past couple of days have been exciting as I continue on configuring ConfigMgr to best-practice standards. That's my goal. I want things to not only work now, but five years down the road. SQL is obviously a big one there.

I decided to blog again today because I wanted to share some valuable information I learned. So the next post will be on installing the application catalog. I'll try to keep up my postings as I continue on!