Hope to see you there.

London VMUG Meeting

Thursday, 17 May, 2012
Meeting: 08:30 – 17:15 London Chamber of Commerce and Industry 33 Queen Street London, EC4R 1AP  Click here for directions
Networking Reception: 17:15 Pavilion End 23 Watling Street, EC4M 9BR  Click here for directions
The London VMUG Steering Committee is delighted to invite you to our second VMUG meeting of 2012. Thank you to our Gold sponsor Trend Micro, our Silver sponsors Liquidware Labs and Tintri and our Lab sponsor VMTurbo. Registration and the first lab of the day begin at 08.30, so come along early and make the most of the labs before we start our meeting promptly at 10.00. Be sure to visit our new London VMUG Workspace! Connect with your fellow VMUG members in te forum, ask and answer questions about VMware, and get involved in your VMUG community.
Registration is open and included as part of member benefits for all VMUG members. Registration for this event will close on Wednesday, 16 May.
Meeting Highlights
Using vShield to Drive Efficiency and Costs Savings – Stephen Porter, Trend Micro Desktop Transformation with Liquidware Labs – Dan Falconer, Liquidware Labs Solving VM Storage Cost and Performance Challenges with VM-aware Storage – Tintri VMTurbo Labs The vCenter Appliance – Hugo Phan, VMware Climb the Stack and Pimp your Cloud with VMware vFabric – Peter Holditch, VMware Flexpod: The Flexible Converged Infrastructure – Chris Kranz Help, My VDI Project is Hell! – Julian Wood Management and Orch’n – What, Why & How – Steve Bryen The vMarket – Skills in Demand for the Next Five Years – Neil Mills Over to You: Design Me a Highly Available Virtualised Infrastructure – Darren Woollard Writing VMware Apps for Novice Programmers – Ricky El-Qasem

The topics covered on the course are listed below. Lessons 5 – 13 were those that I initally needed to get through quickly so focused on those and found that they covered well the significant part of what I needed to know.

Citrix XenDesktop 5 Training – Course Outline

Lesson 1 – Getting Started with Citrix XenDesktop 5 Training
Lesson 2 – Lab Setup
Lesson 3 – The Course Scenario
Lesson 4 – Introduction to Desktop Virtualization
Lesson 5 – Planning Provisioning Server Deployment
Lesson 6 – Installing and Configuring Provisioning Server
Lesson 7 – Creating vDisks and Configuring Target Devices
Lesson 8 – Managing vDisks, Target Devices, Servers and Printers
Lesson 9 – Configuring Provisioning Server High Availability
Lesson 10 – Planning XenDesktop 5 Deployment
Lesson 11 – Installing and Configuring XenDesktop 5 – Part 1
Lesson 12 – Installing and Configuring XenDesktop 5 – Part 2
Lesson 13 – Managing XenDesktop 5
Lesson 14 – Monitoring and Troubleshooting XenDesktop 5
Lesson 15 – Working with Citrix Receiver
Lesson 16 – Working with Profile Manager
Lesson 17 – Upgrading from XenDesktop 4
Lesson 18 – Preparing for the Citrix XenDesktop 5 Administration (A19) Exam
Lesson 19 – Next Steps

Citrix XenDesktop 5 Training – Bonus Lessons

Lesson 20 – Configuring NetScaler Access Gateway Enterprise Edition
Lesson 21 – Working with XenDesktop Setup Wizard

I’ve subsequently been through most of the rest of the lessons and found that it gives you excellent coverage of the XenDesktop product. I enjoyed Elias’ style of training; good explanations and he is always very positive about each lesson and the product itself.

The only thing I think is possibly missing from the course is that it would be worth a lesson on the XenDesktop PowerShell snapins. Since the entire management of the product is built on top of PowerShell it is worth knowing at least how to get started with this topic, even if you are using the GUI to demonstrate the rest of the training. An introduction to how to get started with the PowerShell snapins and a few basic examples would be a useful addition.

If you have a need to learn about XenDesktop then I would highly recommend that you consider using this course. I think TrainSignal have put themselves in a good place providing these two courses since in terms of book availability (which you could either view in terms of competition or complimentary) there are not many tech books available on this subject, although I notice that Elias has ‘Mastering Citrix XenDesktop‘ scheduled to come out later this year.

-switchparameter:$true  or

-switchparameter:$false

Typically you would not use this when working manually at the console, but what if you needed to automate a task using a switch parameter and set it to be On or Off based on values from a CSV or XML file, i.e. you supply the true or false as a string?

This can lead to some initially confusing behaviour; look at this example.

$persistent = “False”

[boolean]$persistent

PowerShell appears to have converted our ‘false’ string to a Boolean ‘true’, not what we were expecting! This is because PowerShell will convert any string greater than 0 characters to a Boolean ‘true’, behaviour which is consistent across other programming languages.

So there are a couple of ways round this, either change your data to an empty string (which may not be possible of course)….

$persistent = “”

[boolean]$persistent

or use the .Net System.Convert ToBoolean method:

$persistent = “False”

[System.Convert]::ToBoolean($persistent)

Looking at a practical example of how you might use this take a look at working with one of the Citrix XenDesktop providers to create a Hypervisor Connection (more on this topic to come)

New-Item -Path xdhyp:\Connections –Name $Name –HypervisorAddress $HypervisorAddress –UserName $UserName –Password $Password –ConnectionType $ConnectionType –Persist: ([System.Convert]::ToBoolean($persistent))

A more detailed explanation of this topic is well written up by Kirk Munro

http://poshoholic.com/2007/09/13/essential-powershell-beware-of-promiscuous-types/

Take the following text and store it in two variables:

$a = "This is some text. It includes (brackets)"

$b = "This is some text. It includes (brackets)"

Now compare them to each other using the -eq operator and see a True result:

$a -eq $b

The script I was looking at though was using the -match operator and this gives a False result.

$a -match $b

This is because the -match operator will carry out a match using regular expressions and the text in question includes a character ) that is special in regular expressions. Consequently, if you wish to carry out a literal match with these strings you need to escape the special characters. The characters to watch out for are \$.|?*+[()^

A couple of ways to escape them are as follows, you can either insert a \ before the special character in the string like this:

$b = "This is some text. It includes \(brackets\)"

$a -match $b

Or a better way in my opinion to do it is use the .Net regex escape method which will prevent you from having to amend the string:

$b = "This is some text. It includes (brackets)"

$a -match [regex]::escape($b)

For some applications a tolerance of 5 minutes is too large and can cause issues with the application. You may need to adjust items such as the polling interval to ensure that the time is within a lower tolerance, but first of all you need to know how far out of tolerance the servers within your environment are.

The below Get-WindowsTimeDifference function can help you out here. It will take a list of Windows computers as input and then compare their time to either a specified Time Server within the environment, or by default attempt to use the PDC emulator for the Root AD Domain (or failing that, the PDC emulator for the current domain). The default tolerance level is one minute, this can be altered with the ToleranceLevel parameter.

A common cause of time sync issues can be Windows servers in the DMZ, which are not members of the domain. Consequently, by default they will not sync with a local domain controller and may need to be manually configured to use a time server (which doesn’t always happen!). Checking the time for these servers may require alternate credentials, so the Credential parameter is provided for that purpose.

The example below demonstrates using a text file list of Windows Server names piped into Get-WindowsTimeDifference with one server out of synch when the ToleranceLevel has been set to 3 minutes.

function Get-WindowsTimeDifference {
<#
.SYNOPSIS
Get the time difference between a time server and Windows clients

.DESCRIPTION
Get the time difference between a time server and Windows clients

.PARAMETER  ReferenceComputer
Name of the computer to check time difference for

.PARAMETER  TimeServer
Name of a TimeServer to use instead of the PDC Emulator

.PARAMETER  ToleranceLevel
Amount in minutes to permit as an acceptable time difference. Default is 1

.PARAMETER  Credential
Supply a PSCredential to use alternative credentials for the WMI query

.EXAMPLE
PS C:\> Get-WindowsTimeDifference -ReferenceComputer Server01 -ToleranceLevel 2

.EXAMPLE

PS C:\> Get-Content servers.txt | Get-WindowsTimeDifference
-TimeServer TimeServer -ToleranceLevel 3 | Select ComputerName,SynchronisedStatus,TimeDeviation,TimeServer

.EXAMPLE
PS C:\> Get-Content servers.txt | Get-WindowsTimeDifference -Credential (Get-Credential)

.NOTES
Author: Jonathan Medd
Date: 16/03/2012
#>

[CmdletBinding()]
param(
[Parameter(Position=0,Mandatory=$true,HelpMessage="Name of the computer to check time difference for",
ValueFromPipeline=$True,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]
[Alias('CN','__SERVER','IPAddress','Server','Computername')]
[System.String]
$ReferenceComputer = $env:COMPUTERNAME,

[Parameter(Position=1)]
[System.String]
$TimeServer,

[Parameter(Position=2)]
[int]
$ToleranceLevel = 1,

[Parameter(Position=3)]
[System.Management.Automation.PSCredential]
$Credential
)

begin {

# If no TimeServer specified, retrive the PDC Emulator for the Root Domain and the Current Domain
if (-not($Timeserver)) {

$Forest = [System.DirectoryServices.ActiveDirectory.Forest]::GetCurrentForest()
$DomainContext = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.ActiveDirectory.DirectoryContext("Domain", $Forest.RootDomain)
$RootPDCEmulator = ([System.DirectoryServices.ActiveDirectory.Domain]::GetDomain($DomainContext)).PdcRoleOwner.Name
$CurrentDomainPDCEmulator = ([System.DirectoryServices.ActiveDirectory.Domain]::GetCurrentDomain()).PdcRoleOwner.Name

# Attempt a WMI query to the PDC Emulator for the Root Domain
try {

$PDCEmulator = (Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName $RootPDCEmulator -ErrorAction Stop).__Server

}

# If there is an error (such as blocked TCP ports or permissions) try the PDC Emulator for the Current Domain instead
catch [System.Exception] {

$PDCEmulator = (Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName $CurrentDomainPDCEmulator).__Server
}

}
}

process {

# If no TimeServer specified, calculate the time difference between the PDC Emulator and the Reference Computer
if (-not($Timeserver)) {

try {
$PDCEmulatorWMI = Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName $PDCEmulator

if ($Credential){

$ReferenceComputerWMI = Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName $ReferenceComputer -Credential $Credential -ErrorAction Stop

}

else {

$ReferenceComputerWMI = Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName $ReferenceComputer -ErrorAction Stop

}

$PDCEmulatorTime = $PDCEmulatorWMI.ConvertToDateTime($PDCEmulatorWMI.LocalDateTime)
$ReferenceComputerTime = $ReferenceComputerWMI.ConvertToDateTime($ReferenceComputerWMI.LocalDateTime)
$TimeDeviation = $PDCEmulatorTime - $ReferenceComputerTime
}

# Catch any errors with the WMI query to the Reference Computer
catch [System.Exception] {

$TimeDeviation = "Unable to contact server"

}
}

else {

# If TimeSever is specified, calculate the time difference between the TimeServer and the Reference Computer
try {

$TimeServerWMI = Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName $TimeServer

if ($Credential){

$ReferenceComputerWMI = Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName $ReferenceComputer -Credential $Credential -ErrorAction Stop

}

else {

$ReferenceComputerWMI = Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName $ReferenceComputer -ErrorAction Stop

}

$TimeServerTime = $TimeServerWMI.ConvertToDateTime($TimeServerWMI.LocalDateTime)
$ReferenceComputerTime = $ReferenceComputerWMI.ConvertToDateTime($ReferenceComputerWMI.LocalDateTime)
$TimeDeviation = $TimeServerTime - $ReferenceComputerTime

}

# Catch any errors with the WMI query to the Reference Computer
catch [System.Exception] {

$TimeDeviation = "Unable to contact server"

}

}
# Use the TimeDeviation variable to determine SynchronisedStatus and TimeDeviation to report
if ($TimeDeviation -eq "Unable to contact server"){

$SynchronisedStatus = "Unable to contact server"

}

elseif ([Math]::Abs(($TimeDeviation).Minutes) -ge $ToleranceLevel) {

$SynchronisedStatus = "Not Synchronised"
$TimeDeviation = [string]$TimeDeviation.Minutes +" Minute(s) " + [string]$TimeDeviation.Seconds +" Seconds"
}

else {

$SynchronisedStatus = "Synchronised"
$TimeDeviation = [string]$TimeDeviation.Minutes +" Minute(s) " + [string]$TimeDeviation.Seconds +" Seconds"
}

# Create custom objects to store the results
New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Property @{
ComputerName = $ReferenceComputer
SynchronisedStatus = $SynchronisedStatus
TimeDeviation = $TimeDeviation
TimeServer = if ($PDCEmulator) {$PDCEmulator} else {$TimeServer}

}
}

}

It may also be important to prove that time is synchronised across your VMware servers. The Get-ESXTimeDifference function will do this for you. In the below example a list of VMware servers is obtained froma text file and the time checked against the Root Domain PDC emulator using the default ToleranceLevel of 1 minute.

Note: Get-ESXTimeDifference requires PowerCLI installed and a connection to vCenter having already been made.

function Get-ESXTimeDifference {
<#
.SYNOPSIS
Get the time difference between a time server and ESX clients

.DESCRIPTION
Get the time difference between a time server and ESX clients

.PARAMETER  ReferenceComputer
Name of the computer to check time difference for

.PARAMETER  TimeServer
Name of a TimeServer to use instead of the PDC Emulator

.PARAMETER  ToleranceLevel
Amount in minutes to permit as an acceptable time difference. Default is 1

.EXAMPLE
PS C:\> Get-ESXTimeDifference -ReferenceComputer ESX01 -ToleranceLevel 2

.EXAMPLE

PS C:\> Get-VMHost ESX01 | Get-ESXTimeDifference
-TimeServer TimeServer -ToleranceLevel 3 | Select ComputerName,SynchronisedStatus,TimeDeviation,TimeServer

.NOTES
Author: Jonathan Medd
Date: 16/03/2012
#>

[CmdletBinding()]
param(
[Parameter(Position=0,Mandatory=$true,HelpMessage="Name of the computer to check time difference for",
ValueFromPipeline=$True,ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true)]
[Alias('CN','__SERVER','IPAddress','Server','Computername','VMHost','Name')]
[System.String]
$ReferenceComputer,

[Parameter(Position=1)]
[System.String]
$TimeServer,

[Parameter(Position=2)]
[int]
$ToleranceLevel = 1
)

begin {

# If no TimeServer specified, retrive the PDC Emulator for the Root Domain and the Current Domain
if (-not($Timeserver)) {

$Forest = [System.DirectoryServices.ActiveDirectory.Forest]::GetCurrentForest()
$DomainContext = New-Object System.DirectoryServices.ActiveDirectory.DirectoryContext("Domain", $Forest.RootDomain)
$RootPDCEmulator = ([System.DirectoryServices.ActiveDirectory.Domain]::GetDomain($DomainContext)).PdcRoleOwner.Name
$CurrentDomainPDCEmulator = ([System.DirectoryServices.ActiveDirectory.Domain]::GetCurrentDomain()).PdcRoleOwner.Name

# Attempt a WMI query to the PDC Emulator for the Root Domain
try {

$PDCEmulator = (Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName $RootPDCEmulator -ErrorAction Stop).__Server

}

# If there is an error (such as blocked TCP ports or permissions) try the PDC Emulator for the Current Domain instead
catch [System.Exception] {

$PDCEmulator = (Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName $CurrentDomainPDCEmulator).__Server
}

}
}

process {

# If no TimeServer specified, calculate the time difference between the PDC Emulator and the Reference Computer
if (-not($Timeserver)) {

$PDCEmulatorWMI = Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName $PDCEmulator

$PDCEmulatorTime = $PDCEmulatorWMI.ConvertToDateTime($PDCEmulatorWMI.LocalDateTime)

$ReferenceComputerTime = ((Get-View ((Get-VMHost $ReferenceComputer).ExtensionData.ConfigManager.DateTimeSystem)).QueryDateTime()).ToLocalTime()
$TimeDeviation = $PDCEmulatorTime - $ReferenceComputerTime

}

else {

# If TimeSever is specified, calculate the time difference between the TimeServer and the Reference Computer

$TimeServerWMI = Get-WmiObject Win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName $TimeServer

$TimeServerTime = $TimeServerWMI.ConvertToDateTime($TimeServerWMI.LocalDateTime)
$ReferenceComputerTime = ((Get-View ((Get-VMHost $ReferenceComputer).ExtensionData.ConfigManager.DateTimeSystem)).QueryDateTime()).ToLocalTime()
$TimeDeviation = $TimeServerTime - $ReferenceComputerTime

}
# Use the TimeDeviation variable to determine SynchronisedStatus and TimeDeviation to report

if ([Math]::Abs(($TimeDeviation).Minutes) -ge $ToleranceLevel) {

$SynchronisedStatus = "Not Synchronised"
$TimeDeviation = [string]$TimeDeviation.Minutes +" Minute(s) " + [string]$TimeDeviation.Seconds +" Seconds"
}

else {

$SynchronisedStatus = "Synchronised"
$TimeDeviation = [string]$TimeDeviation.Minutes +" Minute(s) " + [string]$TimeDeviation.Seconds +" Seconds"
}

# Create custom objects to store the results
New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Property @{
ComputerName = $ReferenceComputer
SynchronisedStatus = $SynchronisedStatus
TimeDeviation = $TimeDeviation
TimeServer = if ($PDCEmulator) {$PDCEmulator} else {$TimeServer}

}
}

}

In the PowerCLI Book, we include a function, Get-VIEventType to return the different type of events that are available. By using this function we can search for an event that would match HA restarts.

Get-VIEventType | Where-Object {$_.Description -like '*restarted*'} | Select-Object Name,Description

So to find these events when can now run a query and filter out only those that match the VmRestartedOnAlternateHostEvent. In the initial Get-VIEvent query we can also reduce the scope of the search by using -Type Info since these events are not recorded as Warnings or Errors.

Get-VIEvent -start (Get-Date).adddays(-1) -MaxSamples 5000 -Type Info | Where-Object {$_.gettype().Name -eq "VmRestartedOnAlternateHostEvent"} | Select-Object @{N='VM';E={($_ | Select -ExpandProperty VM).Name}},@{N='Host';E={($_ | Select -ExpandProperty SourceHost).Name}},CreatedTime

Update:

After putting this post together I noticed (after the report came through this morning) that this check is also included as part of vCheck, but implemented slightly differently. As always, there’s usually more than one way to get to the same end result.

$Date = Get-Date
$HAVMrestartold =5
Get-VIEvent -maxsamples 100000 -Start ($Date).AddDays(-$HAVMrestartold) -type info | Where {$_.FullFormattedMessage -match "was restarted"} |select CreatedTime,FullFormattedMessage |sort CreatedTime -Descending

Update 2:

While testing out this post on vSphere 5 (the above was all vSphere 4.1) I discovered that there had been a few changes. Firstly, there are now two types listed

Get-VIEventType | Where-Object {$_.Description -like '*restarted*'} | Select-Object Name,Description

Some research led to the discovery that the VmRestartedonAlternateHostEvent was deprecated in vSphere 5.

Consequently, the below no longer produced any results:

Get-VIEvent -start (Get-Date).adddays(-1) -MaxSamples 5000 -Type Info | Where-Object {$_.gettype().Name -eq "VmRestartedOnAlternateHostEvent"} | Select-Object @{N='VM';E={($_ | Select -ExpandProperty VM).Name}},@{N='Host';E={($_ | Select -ExpandProperty SourceHost).Name}},CreatedTime

It needed to be modified to:

Get-VIEvent -start (Get-Date).adddays(-1) -MaxSamples 5000 | Where-Object {$_.eventtypeid -eq "com.vmware.vc.ha.VmRestartedByHAEvent"} | Select ObjectName,CreatedTime

Also the vCheck method no longer worked:

$Date = Get-Date
$HAVMrestartold =5
Get-VIEvent -maxsamples 100000 -Start ($Date).AddDays(-$HAVMrestartold) -type info | Where {$_.FullFormattedMessage -match "was restarted"} |select CreatedTime,FullFormattedMessage |sort CreatedTime -Descending

and needed to be modified to the below since the text changed slightly and it was now also a warning event:

$Date = Get-Date
$HAVMrestartold =5
Get-VIEvent -maxsamples 100000 -Start ($Date).AddDays(-$HAVMrestartold) -type warning | Where {$_.FullFormattedMessage -match "restarted"} |select CreatedTime,FullFormattedMessage |sort CreatedTime -Descending

1) Mount the VMware Tools installer for the VM and switch to the CD-Rom drive. (Note: the screenshots below show a session where I was already running PowerShell, not cmd.exe)

2) Run setup.

3) Work through the wizard, selecting the appropriate options:

4) Alternatively, you could use some of the command line options for installing VMware Tools, e.g. the below will perform a quiet install and reboot automatically:

setup64.exe /s /v/qn

5) Here’s confirmation of the successful install:

The release of Windows Server 8 Beta coincided with the need to build out a new homelab environment. I decided it would be a good opportunity to see how far I could use the Server Core deployment option (which is now the preferred choice in the install) and what issues I would come up against. I have thought for a long time that requring all the GUI components on a Windows Server, that typically didn’t need them, made it feel unnecessarily bloated. Server Core has obviously been available since Windows Server 2008, but with the release of Windows Server 8 adding more possibilites to Server Core and the statement that Windows Server 8 Apps must run without a GUI I figured it was time to get more familiar with it.

My other aim with this post was to carry out all configuration with PowerShell and not use any of the previous native commands such as netsh or dcpromo. Windows Server 8 ships with PowerShell modules for Network Configuration (new), Windows Server Role and Feature Install and Active Directory Domain Controller installation (new) which means this should be possible.

Note that in the PowerShell examples below, not all of the cmdlets are from the core PowerShell modules available. Prior to PowerShell v3 it was necessary to track down which module a cmdlet belonged to and then run:

Import-Module ModuleName

followed by the cmdlet. In PowerShell v3 simply running a non-core cmdlet, such as Get-NetIPAddress, will auto-import the module. Cool.

The first step was to deploy a Windows Server 8 Beta VM selecting the Server Core install option. (I’m not intending to detail that process here). Slightly disappointingly we are presented with cmd.exe and not a nice blue PowerShell console . I suspect this is because of the possibility to remove .Net and PowerShell from Server Core, so then you would have to deal with issues of multiple consoles to display.

So to get properly started let’s fire up PowerShell

Let’s take a look at the current IP configuration:

Get-NetIPaddress -InterfaceAlias *Wired* -AddressFamily IPv4

So we need to disable DHCP:

Get-NetIPInterface -InterfaceAlias *Wired* -AddressFamily IPv4 | Where {$_.ConnectionSate -eq 'Connected'} | Set-NetIPInterface -Dhcp Disabled

Get-NetIPInterface -InterfaceAlias *Wired* -AddressFamily IPv4

Now configure a static IP, subnet and default gateway:

Get-NetIPAddress -InterfaceAlias "Wired Ethernet Connection" -AddressFamily IPv4 | New-NetIPAddress -IPv4Address 192.168.0.150 -PrefixLength 24 -DefaultGateway 192.168.0.1

Configuring DNS client settings uses a different cmdlet, Set-DNSClientServerAddress:

Set-DNSClientServerAddress -InterfaceAlias "Wired Ethernet Connection" -ServerAddresses 192.168.0.150,194.168.4.100

Get-DNSClientServerAddress -InterfaceAlias "Wired Ethernet Connection"

We should also set the DNS suffix with the Set-DnsClient cmdlet:

Set-DnsClient -InterfaceAlias "Wired Ethernet Connection" -ConnectionSpecificSuffix sunnydale.local

Get-DnsClient -InterfaceAlias "Wired Ethernet Connection"

Don’t forget to rename the computer if you have deployed the VM from a fresh install and have not already named it correctly via a VM template deployment process. (I did the first time and so ended up with a horribly named Domain Controller!)

Rename-Computer -NewName DC01

Restart-Computer

Active Directory is not installed by default:

Get-WindowsFeature *Domain*

So, let’s install the AD-Domain-Services role:

Install-WindowsFeature AD-Domain-Services

Get-WindowsFeature *Domain*

In previous releases at this point we would run dcpromo.exe and an unattend file, but now can use the Install-ADDSForest cmdlet instead.

Install-ADDSForest `

-ForestMode "Win8" `

-DomainMode "Win8" `

-DomainName "sunnydale.local" `

-DomainNetBIOSName "SUNNYDALE" `

-DatabasePath "C:\Windows\NTDS" `

-LogPath "C:\Windows\NTDS" `

-SYSVOLPath "C:\Windows\SYSVOL" `

-InstallDNS:$true `

-CreateDNSDelegation:$false `

-RebootOnCompletion:$true `

-Force:$true

You’ll be prompted for the Safe Mode Admin password (alternatively you could also specify it above)

The install will now begin:

Since we set:

-RebootOnCompletion:$true

the server will restart once the install has completed.

Looking promising as it boots back up:

I was prompted to change the Administrator password, which I think is different from previous releases:

We can confirm that Active Directory is looking good by using some cmdlets from the AD PowerShell module. List users:

Get-ADUser -Filter * | Format-Table Name,DistinguishedName -Auto

Retrieve some details about the Forest:

Get-ADForest

Retrieve some details about the Domain:

Get-ADDomain

and finally check out the Domain Controllers in the Domain:

Get-ADDomainController

I was pretty happy with this experience and had anticipated more issues getting this working for the first server in the domain, without being able to remote manage it from a workstation. So it will be on from here to try other infrastructure roles and applications in Server Core.

This was obviously my first attempt with Server Core in Windows Server 8, I’d be interested in any feedback on smarter ways of getting to this point. Oh and if you unnecessarily install a GUI on Windows Server 8, then I may have to despatch @ServerCoreMan to sort you out

Once you have downloaded the HP Offline Bundle, it is possible to deploy it via a number of methods. The installation notes suggest installing with the vihostupdate utility, however in this post I’m going to show how it can be installed via vCenter Update Manager.

1) First of all the HP Offline Bundle needs to be imported into the Update Manager Patch Repository. Navigate to the Patch Repositoy and select Import Patches.

2. Enter the path to the HP Offline Bundle. (Note: the GUI does not display the full path, just the filename)

3. The patches will then be uploaded to the Patch Repository.

4. Finally, finish off the wizard.

5. Once the HP Offline Bundle has been imported a Host Extension Patch Baseline needs to be created. Navigate to Baselines and Groups and create a new Baseline, with the type changed from the default Host Patch to Host Extension.

6. Select the Extension to add to the Baseline. The best thing to do here is enter HP into the search box to reduce the number of items to choose from.

7. On the final page confirm the HP Offline Bundle has been added.

Alternatively, once the HP Offline Bundle has been uploaded into the Patch Repository, it’s much easier to create this baseline via the vCenter Update Manger PowerCLI cmdlets.   Note that we need to use the Extension parameter since the baseline will be of type Host Extension.

New-PatchBaseline -Name "HP Offline Bundle for ESXi 4.1 U2 " -Description "HP Offline Bundle for ESXi 4.1 U2" -IncludePatch (Get-Patch -SearchPhrase "HP ESXi 4.1 Bundle 1.2-25") -TargetType Host -Static -Extension

The main advantage for me of deploying the HP Offline Bundle with Update Manager is that we can take advantage of Baseline Groups. As the name suggests Baseline Groups enable you to group together multiple and different types of baselines. Consequently in this instance we can place the ESXi and HP Offline Bundle upgrade into a Baseline Group and carry out the upgrade to 4.1 U2 in a single remediation task.

There are similar upgrade packages for ESXi 5 from HP, so this process could also be used for that upgrade.

So this additional plugin for vCenter will highlight any ESXi hosts which have not been configured with the correct Syslog server.

In a previous post I detailed how to add your own plugin to vCheck 6. You can either do that for the below plugin, download it from the plugins section on Alan’s site or it is also included as part of the vCheck 6.10 release. There are now 70+ plugins for vCheck thanks to some great community contributions!

$Title = "Syslog Name"
$Header =  "Syslog Issues"
$Comments = "The following hosts do not have the correct Syslog settings which may cause issues if ESXi hosts experience issues and logs need to be investigated"
$Display = "Table"
$Author = "Jonathan Medd"
$Version = 1.0

# Start of Settings
# The Syslog server which should be set on your hosts
$SyslogServer ="SyslogServer"
# End of Settings

@($VMH | Where-Object {$_.ExtensionData.Summary.Config.Product.Name -eq 'VMware ESXi'} | Select-Object Name,@{Name='SyslogServer';Expression = {($_ | Get-VMHostSysLogServer).Host}} | Where-Object {$_.SyslogServer -ne $syslogserver})