In the first part of this LAB setup guide, I described the hardware selection process. In this second part I will be describing the hypervisor selection and installation.
Hypervisor selection
First of all, you have to decide on which bare metal hypervisor(s) you wish to use. Personally I prefer Microsoft Hyper-V and VMWare ESXi. Alternatives include but are not limited to Citrix XenServer, Xen, KVM, Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization. I don’t have much experience with these hypervisors though.
Characteristics that could influence your choice of hypervisor:
- Supported hardware.
- Performance of the hypervisor.
- Features of the hypervisor. By example when using Transparent Memory Page Sharing, it requires less memory when you run many highly identical systems on a host.
- Footprint / attack surface.
- Supported methods for running the OS. By example run from USB stick.
- Price (many hypervisors have free versions available, compare features).
- Support (for a home lab probably not that important).
- Available documentation / study resources.
- How active the community behind it is.
- Supported VM / guest operating systems.
- Ease-of-use.
- Availabilty of downloadable virtual appliances (VMWare) or pre-prepped environments (Microsoft) without having to (try and) convert them.
Everyone needs to determine which hypervisor best meets their needs. Personally I mainly work with Microsoft software and decided to use Hyper-V 3.0 in Windows Server 2012. It’s convenient for me to be able to easily load pre-prepped environments that are provided by Microsoft (in Hyper-V format). I also run Client Hyper-V on my Windows 8 laptop, which makes it easier for me to take my VM’s with me. I do plan to keep up with VMWare developments as well though, so I will create a bootable USB flash drive to boot in VMWare from time to time.
Hypervisor installation
- Before installing the hypervisor, make sure that virtualization related settings are enabled. The names of these settings may differ. Examples are Intel VT (Virtualization Technology), AMD-V and Hardware DEP (Data Execution Prevention), EM64T, Execute Disable Bit. During installation you will get prompted normally though if you have forgotten to enable these.
- There are often many options with regards to the installation. By example do a GUI install or a scripted/CLI install. Or install/run from normal harddisk or flash drive. With Server 2012 Hyper-V you can choose to run it in Windows Server 2012 core or in the GUI version. I chose to use the Server 2012 GUI Hyper-V installation because I’m not sure if my raid management software will work from within the core version.
- Installation of the hypervisor is normally pretty straight forward. But before you install, read the documentation.
- After you’re done installing, you still need to configure the settings to meet your requirements. Preferrably you’ve already created and documented your own design.
- Don’t forget to configure hardware monitoring if possible. In my case I’ve configured my raid controller management software to send e-mails when storage related issues are detected.
- Think about and implement a strategy for backing up and recovering your hypervisor. There are numerous programs for backing up and most are free for personal use. I have no personal experience with specific products, but VeeAm has a good reputation and I’ll be trying if for my lab. Also if you’re a Microsoft Certified Professional, you can get a free NFR license for Veeam Backup & Replication v6.5 for Hyper-V. The same is true if you’re a VMWare Certified Professional (VCP).
In the next post I will describe the VM guest preparations, installations and storage strategy.
Tags: Citrix, Citrix XenServer, ESXi, ESXi 5.1, guest, Hyper-V, Hyper-V 3.0, hypervisor, ICT, KVM, lab, Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization, RHEV, virtualization, VM, VMware ESXi, Windows Server 2012, Xen, XenServer
As you will probably know by now, I’m really into ICT. I mainly focus on virtualization and Microsoft technoIogies. As such, I try to:
- Keep up with new ICT developments
- Improve my knowledge and skills for both old and new ICT technologies
- Get certified in many different areas of ICT.
A proper lab environment is a prerequisite to do so. Because of virtualization however, this has become so much easier (and cheaper) than before.
In the next couple of blog posts I will try to document the steps I’m taking to build my lab. Today I’m staring the series with the hardware selection. The important part of the hardware I use for my environment is as follows:
- Mainboard: Gigabyte GA-H77M-D3H
- CPU: Intel Core i5 3570 quadcore
- Memory: 32GB
- SATA controller : IBM M1015 (flashed to LSI9211-8i)
- VM storage: 2 * 512GB SSD Samsung 830 series
- Non VM storage: 2 * 2TB SATA
To me it was important that my machine would be able to run both Microsoft Hyper-V 3.0 as well as VMware ESXi 5.1 properly. Both have hardware requirements, but VMware ESXi 5.1 is generally more restrictive with regards to supported hardware. Very simply put, it means that the mainboard, CPU, network and storage controller need to be compatible with the features you require.
Normally you would check supported hardware on the official hardware compatibility list (HCL) of the vendor, but these are generally aimed at real server hardware and do not support/contain consumer hardware. So before buying hardware, check on forums to see what combinations of hardware are working for other people and choose the one that matches your desires best. You can also google for ESXi whitebox.
Furthermore, I plan to run many systems at the same time, hence the 32GB of memory and the 2 fast 512GB SSD disks. Besides the fast, but small SSD you generally also need more storage to store other files like by example operating system images and tools.
The next post is about the Hypervisor selection and installation.
Tags: hardware, hardware compatibilty, hardware compatibilty list, hardware selection, HCL, ICT, lab, support, virtualization
I created this script to automate extracting English only MSP files from CAB files in the SCOM 2012 Update Rollup 3 (UR3) files. By default it will delete extracted non-English versions. With some minor modifications it can be used for any CAB file though, not just SCOM 2012 Update Rollup 3. It includes a lot of comments, so it is manageable and can be used for getting to know PowerShell better.
SCOM 2012 Update Rollup 3 can be downloaded here : http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/search.aspx?q=2750631
The issue with SCOM 2012 Update Rollup 3 is that after downloading you’ll end up with a total of 41 CAB files. The large number of files is because they are for different components and in multiple languages. And what is even worse, is that the file names do not show which file is for which language.This script will extract all cab files to a subfolder and will then removes the non English ones. Below are some of the example files in Update Rollup 3 to give you an idea about the nondescriptive file names:
- all-kb2750631-amd64-console_1af57997fba722cdd3dfe4b2ddb4b8d8d829dd6f.cab
- all-kb2750631-amd64-console_3d61c9e090622b2b59ee8bf7b13b922e815bdf15.cab
- all-kb2750631-amd64-console_494a77ddaa09206f8f61ecdfb2edfcd1e82a497c.cab
- all-kb2750631-amd64-console_69bb307dbd450cfd8b732c2ac3845c9870bdc6d0.cab
- all-kb2750631-amd64-console_71c65fc2ded6769edbf610958780b5a8ac374f8c.cab
Deploying SCOM 2012 components and updates to them can be done in multiple ways: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh551142.aspx
Most of the work while updating will probably be updating the agents. Basically for SCOM 2012 there are 2 major ways to install agents:
- Push installation (initiated from SCOM 2012). Updates can then also be deployed from within SCOM (Remotely Manageable = Yes). Push installation is often preferred, because it is easy and also allows you to push updates to clients from within SCOM 2012. The downside however is that it also requires a lot of open ports (including RPC) which might not always be acceptable: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2566152. Push install and update install can also consume a lot of bandwidth and depending on your architecture (b.e. WAN links), the push install might not be the best way.
- A manual installation (anything that is not a push installation). Updates cannot be deployed from within SCOM (Remotely Manageable = No). Manual installation includes running setup manually, using a GPO software install or using deployment tools like System Center Configuration Manager). Using the GUI, you cannot simply set an agent back to remotely manageable = Yes. You can change this in SQL though, but keep in mind that connectivity requirements still need to be met.
With Update Rollup 3, it is now possible to leverage WSUS / Microsoft Update to deploy updates (not the inital agent) to all SCOM 2012 components. I predict this will probably become the preferred way of updating SCOM 2012 for most companies:
+ It does not require many ports on your firewall to be opened.
+ Better bandwidth management (local WSUS, BranchCache, BITS).
+ Auto detects components on systems (component updates are not forgotten).
+ Still in control of when which updates are deployed/approved.
+ Leverage existing patch/update management procedures and systems WSUS/SCCM (standardization).
– Initial agent installation cannot be performed using WSUS.
PS: Also check these great blog posts when deploying Update Rollup 3:
Tags: Background Intelligent Transfer Service, BITS, BranchCache, CAB, cab files, decompress, extract, ICT, manual install, Microsoft, Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2012, Microsoft Update, operations management, operations manager, Operations Manager 2012, OpsMgr, OpsMgr 2012, OpsMgr 2012 Update Rollup 3, OpsMgr2012, Patch Management, Powershell, push install, Remotely Manageable, rollup, SCCM, SCOM, SCOM 2012, SCOM 2012 Update Rollup 3, SCOM2012, service pack, System Center, System Center Configuration Manager, System Center Operations Manager, System Center Operations Manager 2012, testing environment, Update Management, update rollup, Update Rollup 3, WSUS
Great videos of Windows 8 deployment and system management sessions can be found here.
Sessions:
- Creating Custom WinPE 4.0 boot images
- A Geeks guide to the Galaxy – Building a SC 2012 Configuration Manager OS Deployment Solution
- Inside Windows 8 – The new Assessment and Deployment Kit, ADK
- Inside Windows 8 – Mastering the Setup Engine
- SC 2012 Configuration Manager OSD – Tips & Tricks from the Deployment Masters
These sessions were recorded at the NIC 2012 (Nordic Infrastructure Conference). Be sure to check the website for more videos and interesting information.
Tags: ADK, Assessment and Deployment Kit, ConfigMgr, Configuration Manager, Configuration Manager 2012, Deploy, Deployment, ICT, Microosft, Operating System Deployment, OSD, System Center, System Center 2012, system management, Windows, Windows 8, Windows Preinstallation Environment, WinPE, WinPE 4.0
General
Last Friday I attended the first Dutch Powershell User Group meeting in Eindhoven at Master IT Training and it was great. There were a lot of knowledgeable and passionate people and the interactive sessions were great as well. Thanks go out to all attendees, but especially to the ones presenting and organizing the event.
The fact that we were asked to leave the building (because it was getting pretty late and they wanted to lock up), also stresses the passion of all attendees because. If this wasn’t the case we probably would’ve stayed a lot longer.
Be sure to check out the Dutch PowerShell User Group (DuPSUG) website and Twitter on a regular basis for articles and future events. Ed Wilson also wrote a post of the meeting on the “Hey, Scripting Guy! Blog”.
Photos
Original photo on flickr
Sessions
Below are the sessions with some info about the speakers and their sessions. I also added notes I took and other information I looked up afterwards. If you come across any errors or have comments, please leave a reply so I can fix it.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Active Directory, AD, AD DS, ADDS, ADSISEARCHER, Apache Subversion, CIM, CodePlex, Common Information Model, dcom, distributed com, DuPSUG, Dutch PowerShell User Group, Ed Wilson, Eindhoven, Event, git, Integrated Scripting Environment, ISE, Jaap Brasser, Jeff Wouters, LDAP, Master IT, Mercurial, Powershell, Powershell 3.0, PowerShell Remoting, Powershell v3, Richard Siddaway, rpc, snippets, splatting, SVN, team foundation server, Team Foundation Server 2012, Team Foundation Service, TFS, The Scripting Guy, The Scripting Wife, Version control, Windows, Windows 2012, Windows 2012 Server, Windows 8, Windows Server 2012, WinRM, WMI, workflow, ws-man
Since I often participate in Microsoft beta exams and books are not available at that time, I spend a lot of my time using Technet. Here are some personalizations I use:
Technet library view type:
For people who’ve been using the Technet library for many years, they are probably familiar with the “Classic” interface shown below:
Until a couple of weeks ago, I thought this interface had simply been replaced by a new “lightweight” interface. You can however change the view using the settings button 
to match your preference.
Technet library Print/Export multiple topics
Sometimes you want to easily bookmark topics for later (offline) use and possibly even on other devices. The Print Multiple Topics feature provides this functionality. Be sure to try it:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/export/help(lightweight)
Some more information about this feature can be found here.
Tags: ICT, Microsoft, personalization, Technet, Technet Library
In the past I’ve used Microsoft’s virtual labs many times and found them really useful.
VMware has also created Hands-On Labs Online (HOL) now as well and you can sign up for the open public beta now. These online labs are ideal for people:
- Who don’t have the hardware to create these labs themselves.
- Who don’t have time to create these labs themselves.
- Who want to have a properly tested and defined lab environment with guidance and documentation.
Read more about the VMware HOL and the labs that are being provided. Also be sure to check out their blog and Twitter account.
I’ve signed up as well and I hope to get access soon.
Tags: Beta, Cloud, Hands-On Labs, Hands-On Labs Online, HOL, ICT, public beta, sign up, virtual labs, VMware, VMware HOL
Normally when you install nzbget on your Popcorn Hour A-400 or any other NMT (Networked Media Tank), it should download your files, but should also download additional pars, repair and unrar.
With the nzbget that came installed with the NMT apps it did not unrar for me unfortunately. So I went looking for a solution and found that many people recommended installing Oversight using NMT CSI (Community Service Installer) because it had a better postprocessing / unpacking script.
After installing Oversight (and rebooting), the nzbget web interface was not reachable on port 8066 anymore however. After deinstallation of Oversight in CSI it started working again.
To get it all working I installed Oversight again using CSI and then (again using CSI) I stopped Oversight and configured it not to start on boot. Then everything worked as desired. Note that your completed downloads will be moved from the Downloads folder to the Completed
Tags: HDX-1000, mediaplayer, network media tank, networked media tank, nmt, nzbget, nzbget web interface, oversight, PCH, PCH A-400, PCH-A100, PCH-A110, PCH-A200, PCH-A210, PCH-A300, PCH-C300, popcorn hour
If you’re looking to attract more visitors to your blog, just writing good articles isn’t enough. You can (and should) take advantage of search engine optimization (SEO) to make it easier for people to find your content.
SEO for wordpress blogs that can use plugins
Thanks to my colleague Dominique Hermans for this informative link about WordPress SEO. Also be sure to check out his blog http://techdom.nl for new interesting posts.
SEO for wordpress blogs that can’t use plugins (by example wordpress.com)
Tags: http://techdom.nl, ICT, internet, plugin, search engine optimization, SEO, techdom, techdom.nl, Web, web page, webmaster tools, webppage, wordpress, wordpress.com
blog.bjornhouben.com 