Category Archives: Training

Kick Starting Your Windows 7 Deployments With Mastering Windows 7 Deployment

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I have to hand it to Aidan Finn, he doesn’t stop at sharing information via his blogs or the community. He joined forces with Darril Gibson & Kenneth van Surksum went the extra mile. The wrote a readable, useful book Mastering Windows 7 Deployment about a subject on which consolidated documentation is scarce, scattered around the internet or written badly so you still can’t figure it out or is to boring you just don’t read it. If I need to define the goal of this book: get people a good head start for Windows 7 deployments in a planned and organized fashion.

This is not a book for the absolute newbie who doesn’t know the difference between a local and a domain account. It isn’t targeted at the WDS/MDT experts who’ve solved, fixed and worked around any and all PXE boot, network errors, cryptic WDS or MDT deployment errors & configuration challenges known to man kind. In that case this stuff is known to you (or should be). The point is those experts have already learnt a lot the hard way and they put in a considerable effort to do so. But knowledge needs to be transferred and spread around and to do that you need to cover the basics and work up from there, showing progress and results. The progress and results motivate people.

In that respect, this books get’s you started on that path from chapter one and by page 5 you’re already being guided into auditing & reporting via MAPS to prepare a roll out proposal. The effort put into discussing the Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) is important. I remember the work that we needed to do for Vista x64 bit and how that paid off when deploying Windows 7. What surprises me it that a lot of IT Pro’s don’t even know about the ACT, file and registry virtualization or shims. I recommend another blog on this subject http://blogs.msdn.com/b/cjacks/ , Chris Jackson, the “App Compat Guy” and a very good conference speaker on the subject. The scenarios with the User State Migration Tool will benefit system administrators who dread touching end users their PC and the precious data it might contain. If so, I hope you are backing up the data on those workstations, if not than that is really scary.

Perhaps some readers will already be using certain tools touched upon in the book but not others. In that case this is a great way to start with them and see where they fit in and what they can do for you. We did Vista x64 bit deployments in 2008 with WDS; rolled out Windows 7 x64 in 2010 using WDS/MDT and I still found this book interesting enough to buy some copies and add it to the toolkit of my team. What I’d like to add as a useful hint: look into disable rearming by using <SkipRearm>1</SkipRearm> in the unattended XML file you can pass to sysprep as in “/generalize /quiet /unattend:<file_name.xml” so you don’t run into a when you do it more than 4 times on the same image (An error message occurs when you run "Sysprep /generalize" in Windows Vista or Windows 7: "A fatal error occurred while trying to Sysprep the machine").

The Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) sections point you directly to some gems we found very useful in our deployments. That you can pre stage computers in the MDT database to help make the roll outs as “light touch” as possible is cool, but that you can automate that with the MDT PowerShell module makes it really very valuable. See http://blogs.technet.com/b/mniehaus/archive/2009/05/15/manipulating-the-microsoft-deployment-toolkit-database-using-powershell.aspx for more details. Michael Niehaus is to MDT what Chris Jason is to ACT. As identifier we use the MAC address as we get that on a label on the PC and we can easily get a list of those to mass import them together with creating the computer objects in Active Directory. We also added driver profiles depending on the client make & model. When you combine this with boot from PXE provided by WDS to boot to an MDT WinPE, and remember WDS also gives you multicast, you have a real sweet solution going. This is the route we went last year and has served us well (we came from a pure WDS solutions, and RIS before that when we still did XP rollouts but that was more than 4 years ago Open-mouthed smile … time flies.

Task sequencer is a gem that we indeed also use to roll out certain default software like 7zip, a pdf reader, ISO burner, anti malware, etc. The fact that these are not in the image makes it very easy to deploy newer versions as they come available.

The chapter on KMS, VAMT, volume licensing will be of use to people who have never dealt with it coming from Windows 2003/XP

This book will come into its own for any SME or enterprise departmental system administrator with who needs to be launched swiftly and on his or her way to their targets, which are smooth Windows 7 deployments. A lot of production system administrators are in the progress of looking at Windows 7 and might have a lot of experience with Windows XP and Windows 2003 but not with Windows 2008(R2) and Vista/Windows 7. If you’re in that bracket you’re definitely going to get a kick start with this book and it contains some neat tips and tricks to get over some initial gotchas. Don’t think that this is for big enterprises only. Apart from the system center products most tools are free downloads or a part of the Windows server license you already own.

As always, the only way to understand technologies is to work with them, use them. That’s the way to gain insight, experience, and context. So play with this stuff in a lab. Run into a bunch issues and fix them. If you need to get up to speed with all this stuff then you should dig into this book with a hands on approach. The book will also help you make more sense of other information out there and you’ll be able to put that into context better. As a bonus, I’m pretty sure that anything you learn from it will help you with deploying Windows vNext as well.

Shameless Plug For Mastering Hyper-V Deployment By Aidan Finn

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In October 2010 Aidan Finn (MVP) his book “Mastering Hyper-V Deployment” was released and in November three copies of this book landed on my desk. I bought them (pre order) via Amazon. Nope I did not get them as a gift or anything. Why Three? Well that’s the number of people I wanted to get up to speed about Hyper-V and virtualization management and operations in a Microsoft environment.

His book takes you along a journey through a Hyper-V project that will teach you about virtualization in all it’s aspects. It also touches on many supporting technologies and products such as System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2, System Center Essentials 2010, Data Protection manager 2010 and System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2. No one book can be the only source of knowledge and understanding, but using this book as a start for both new and experienced IT Pros to learn about virtualization with Hyper-V will give you the best possible start. Consider it going to an Ivy league college on a scholarship paid for by Aidan’s experience and hard work. The subsidized tuition fee is the price of the book.

We feel a bit sorry that Aidan only got one copy so we made a group picture of the gang of three on the desk of our newest team member. He got a copy of the book together with 4 recycled PC’s and a TechNet subscription to build a lab.

If you know people who want or need to learn about Hyper-V, you’d do well to make sure they get this book and have them set up a lab to play with the technologies. Those efforts will pay off big time when they implement their solutions in the wild. If Ireland is doomed it won’t be because of smart & hardworking Irish IT professionals like Aidan. You see when you design, build and support IT solutions that your customers depend on 24/7 you can not hide behind false promises, you can’t fake away from the fact when “stuff” doesn’t work or hide behind vast amounts of papers & documents void of any substance. Nope, you are responsible for everything and anything you build. Aidan backed and supported by some very knowledgeable colleagues has made that burden a bit lighter for you to bear with this book. Aidan’s blog lives here: http://www.aidanfinn.com/

The SP1 Béta Wave – E2K10 & W2K8R2

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News from Tech Ed 2010 North America rolls in and we have the announcements of Windows 2008 R2 SP1 Béta for July 2010. Exchange 2010 SP1 Béta became available today! I’m grabbing it 🙂

I wouldn’t be surprised to see the the final releases of the products be announced at Tech Ed 2010 EMEA. Now I also wouldn’t mind if they came sooner due to the new and improved feature set both service packs offer, but I’m not really counting on that.

Bob Muglia’s live streamed keynote @ Tech Ed 2010 North America is nearing it’s end by now and he’s pretty up beat about lots of subjects Visual Studio 2010, Azure, System Center, Cloud, Exchange, OCS 14, Windows Phone 7, SQL Server 2008 R2, Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Bing Maps & SDK, Avatar as a cloud case study & collaboration with Microsoft etc.

Cloud is omnipresent but they talk about hybrid. Making sure Hybrid is cost effective is important to me. I don’t need more work and costs but less.

Why I Find Value In A Conference

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For those of you who are attending a high quality conference I’m going to share some tips. It’s great to be able to attend a conference. Not because it’s in a great city and you’ll get to dine out at night, but because of the opportunities it provides us to learn and grow.

So what is the value of such a conference? Well, it is about the communication with peers and guru’s. The conversations you’ll have and the exchange of taught and ideas. The technical information you’ll gather, the products and techniques you’ll see. All of this will help you to direct and focus the way in which you approach your job, run your projects, plan and realize your visions and ideas. A conference, if done well, is nothing more or less than a technical education in the business of ICT and how to do things and make it work, results versus efforts wise. On top of that you get to interact and share ideas with your peers. You can’t ask for anything more.

Conferences cost a lot of money, time and energy. After all when you’re attending you have no income or the boss pays you while you’re not in the office creating value. On top of that you have to pay for the hotel, flight, daily expenses and the conference fee.  So why would we do this? There’s a global crisis, there’s a European crisis, there’s an XYZ crisis and there is economic doom and gloom all over the place. Not to mention all the results of that downturn … cutbacks, redundancy, foreclosures, failing businesses, unemployment, etc. The conference scene is not immune to a recession. Conferences are canceled, scaled down, attendance drops.  The competition from blogs, on line, free or subscription based content, pre views, beta’s, web casts, computer based training can be felt as well, as has been the case for many years. Conferences need to fight to maintain high standards of technical content for an ever more demanding and skilled public in a very rapidly changing world and IT scene. But still, a conference done right is an investment worth making. It is an investment in knowledge. In return we get all of the above mentioned in the previous paragraph and that is why I attend them. They make me a better “Technical Architect”. That is try I really put in the effort to get the funds, create the opportunity and reserve the time to go. The benefits of a conference, if done right, cannot be denied.

What is the right way?  Well first here’s the wrong way. Don’t go there or learn how to use delegates in .NET or to build a Linq to Wmi query. It’s not just an ordinary classroom. Do not go there to nag about some issues you had or have because you’re too lazy to do research and read help files, readme texts, TechNet or MSDN. Do not go to complain about how hard it is to find information and study.  Do not go because of the great location, you will see nothing of it 🙂 unless you use it as a vacation. Maybe some USA people deserve to do this but heck I’m from Europe and I get my fair share of holidays. Also, take any frustration, denial or ignorance about the lies of instant gratification and careers success you might have had when you bought product X and it didn’t just improve your live after clicking “Next” somewhere else. Results and successes come from an enduring effort, which is a fancy word for hard work. They are not a right, a perk or let alone guaranteed (yeah some vendors and people lied to you, get over it). If you cannot search study and learn on your own get out of ICT now. If you need support for every issue or new item and expect someone to be there to help every step of the way you’re in trouble. It takes time, dedication and a great deal of effort to become and stay proficient in IT. Even then you’ll know about failure, setbacks, troubles and mistakes. Life & work is not a commercial.

Go to a conference for the big picture, the architecture, the networking with peers, the possibilities and the dreams. Expand your knowledge and views on how to make the pieces work and interact. The focus of the conference is on tying it all together, learning new and better ways, discovering possibilities which all equals to yet more stuff to learn and more work to do. At the booths manned by industry experts or representatives do give feedback about the product and offer to send some more details about certain real problems you might have come across. But be nice and polite, don’t be a jerk. Would you feel compelled to help a jerk? Techies are people, really!

Don’t run to sessions like a mad man without a plan.  Know why you are there and how to get what you’re after. If this is your first conference, everything will be new and fabulous (I hope). You can’t attend enough sessions. You are torn between the choice of sessions and tracks. You’re full of new ideas immediately and overwhelmed with even more just after that. So for all you newbie’s, get your act together and prepare a bit or it will turn into chaos. Write down ideas, insights and possibilities to pursue. What about you conference veterans? Have you’ve been there, done that?  Have you have seen it all before? Not really, and we all know it.  It’s all about lifelong learning. Conferences are about being in a stimulating environment where you “marinate” in the professional IT community for a week. Learn from and with the people attending. Not only during sessions. Lunch with them, have a coffee with them. Immerse yourself in this explosion of IT and business. Think about the new stuff, use your imagination, and write down ideas. Cross check your plans. Calibrate you insights.

The role of the conference is get you thinking about stuff and gives you a chance to talk to each other about that stuff. Interact! It is the essence of a conference. Ask questions both in public and in private. Talk to attendees, to experts, to vendors. See what they are in to, need, tried, where they succeeded and failed. Find out what they have to offer. Talk shop, talk IT life, and make that connection with the others attending in whatever role. There is a wide world out there much bigger, larger and perhaps tougher than your own little world that is driven by results and built on efforts. Those folks have professional and business experience in all of the subjects being discussed. Pick their brains! Get some new insights and ideas. Yes I know some vendors act like 2nd hand car dealers and yes I’ve met people who don’t know their own products. But that doesn’t rule out the need for and benefits of communication and interaction, those where just the wrong people, just move along. Oh and don’t forget to get a bunch of extra business cards you got out of the drawer. Also keep in touch with people you meet. Send a follow up mail, a tweet, a blog mention. That’s how you expand your knowledge network. If you get to go to a conference, enjoy it and make sure you arrive early and leave late. There is no value in missing a part of the experience to save some time or some €/$ bills.

I don’t implement all the ideas I return home with from conferences. But I have them written down in mails, scraps of paper, txt files, One Note scribbles etc. I tend to pour them into a word document during and after the conference. Form that I distill my plans, my vision and my roadmap.  I will present those to management, colleagues, partners and customers and offer them solutions based on my perception of what business needs we can satisfy with technology. The stuff I’m working on now was born as ideas 12 to 18 months ago. Those ideas are tested and checked over time, they ripe and then they become plans. I find a conference a great place to do that.