Network Administration & Consulting Services

I guess today it's not necessary to explain what Imagex.exe is and what it does :).
Personally, I really love this tool, but I don't like the way Imagex responses to the parameter /INFO. When we run the following:
IMAGEX /INFO D:\Sources\install.wim

We will see the following result (just part of the result):

Continue at ITStuff.ca

Everybody knows that I'm real fun of Unattended Installation. I try to do as much as possible to automate everything :). Time to time, I meet applications are not supporting unattended or silent installation. In this situation, my "Best Friend" is Autoit helps me. In the following video, you can see a demo, how by using Autoit script (BTW, any Autoit script could be compiled into .EXE file) I'm installing Avira Antivirus on Windows 7 RC1 (Win7 RC1)....

Continue at ITStuff.ca

Recently, I've created a script to get information about server / workstation. This script writes all information (about hardware, software, settings,...) into XML file. I'd like to show up a part of this script. Create a text file and call it TrendMicroInfo.bat. Put the following lines into the TrendMicroInfo.bat:

Continue at my blog, ITstuff.ca

SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is now available. You can use these packages to upgrade any SQL Server 2008 edition. For more information about SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1, please review the Release Notes.

Download here

• Windows Small Business Server 2008 Administrator's Companion by Charlie Russel and Sharon Crawford (27 chapters, 3 appendices, 712 pages)
• Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition: Build a Program Now! by Patrice Pelland (9 chapters, Glossary, 254 pages)

Winnipeg ~ On April 21^st, 2009, local information technology company EPIC Information Solutions (EPIC) will unveil the latest version of its bi-annual conference, EPIC Technology Day, at the Victoria Inn on Wellington Avenue.

Click here to register!

The DHCP server in Windows Server 2008 R2 has invested in the areas of security, reliability, manageability and usability. Similarly on the DHCP Client in Windows 7 has invested on certain optimization for obtaining IP Address.

The following changes are available in DHCP server in Windows Server 2008 R2:

• Supports MAC address based network access control mechanism, with the Link Layer based Filtering feature. With this feature DHCP Administrator can control issuance/denial of DHCP leases/IP addresses.
• Supports prevention of name squatting issues caused due to non-Windows OS machines, with the Name Protection feature. Using this feature one could prevent registration of non-Windows OS machine with a same name that is already registered for another machine in DNS Server.
• Supports prevention of exhaustion of IP addresses at scope level especially for the deployments catering to redundancy/high-availability scenarios like Split-Scope. This feature is available only for IPv4 network and not for IPv6 network as in case of latter exhaustion of addresses is not an issue.
• Supports DHCP activity logging, allows DHCP Administrators to monitor the configuration changes of the DHCP Servers. DHCP Administrators would use this feature for network security / IT compliance auditing purposes.
• Supports migration of DHCP Server role using Windows Server Migration Tool (WSMT).
• DHCP Server service is moved under Network Service account from Local Service account. With this the DHCP Server service that runs in the context of the Network Service account presents the computer's credentials to remote servers. Also the advantage with Network Service is it has very few privileges and can do less damage on the server if compromised.
• Usability and operability enhancements of DHCP Server like:
• Auto-population of certain network interface fields like DNS Server addresses (both IPv4 and IPv6), WINS Server addresses, during installation and configuration of scope.
• Interpretive Icons for better readability.
• Wizard based split-scope configuration for ease and error free split-scope deployment.
• Address leases to filter (multiple select supported) for ease of Link Layer based filter configuration for leased clients.
• Address leases to reservation (multiple select supported) for ease of reservation configuration for leased clients.
• In the product scenario/task based help content for Windows Server 2008 R2 features.
• Supports DHCPv6 Option 15 (User Class). This is used by client to identify the type or category of user or application it represents. It involves both DHCP Server and Client side implementation.
• Support of DHCPv6 Option 32 (Information Refresh Time). This specifies an upper bound for how long a client should wait before refreshing information retrieved from DHCPv6. It involves both DHCP Server and Client side implementation.

Continue At: Microsoft Windows DHCP Team Blog

Microsoft and Red Hat announced this morning that they have recently signed agreements to test and validate their server operating systems running on one another's hypervisors. This is deeply significant as it means that customers will be able to confidently deploy Windows Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), virtualized on Microsoft and Red Hat hypervisors, knowing that the solutions will be supported by both companies.

In short, Red Hat has joined Microsoft's Server Virtualization Validation Program, and Microsoft is now a Red Hat partner for virtualization interoperability and support. Microsoft will also be listed in the Red Hat Hardware Certification List once the Red Hat certification process has been completed later this year.

This free e-learning collection of four clinics offers a comprehensive introduction to Hyper-V and Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008, System Centre Virtual Machine Manager 2008, and Microsoft Application Virtualization.

Click here to learn more

Summary

Collection 6333: Exploring Microsoft Virtualization Technologies

Overview

This collection of three 2-hour online clinics and an 1-hour online clinic provides IT Professionals experienced in Windows 2000 Server or Windows Server 2003 with the knowledge and skills to implement and manage virtualization technologies.
Topics covered in the clinic within the collection include:

• Introduction to Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008
• Overview of Microsoft Application Virtualization
• Overview of Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008
• Overview of Hyper-V

Student Prerequisites

• Experience in planning, implementing, and supporting Windows Server–based networks, operating systems and platform infrastructure. This may include experience in Windows 2000 Server, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008.
• Knowledge of server virtualization and Hyper-V.

1. Boot the machine using the Windows 7 DVD
2. Choose Windows Repair
3. Start CMD
4. Run Diskpart
5. Type: Create vdisk file=c:\Windows7Build7000.vhd maximum=40000
6. Type: select vdisk file=c:\Windows7Build7000.vhd
7. Type: attach vdisk (in previous Betas, it was 'surface' instead of 'attach')
8. Type: 'exit' (you exit Windows Repair, but Do Not Reboot)
9. Install Windows 7 to this attached .VHD (From Win7 installation, you now have to 'see' another Hard Drive, you'll need to create a partition & format it, first. You might get an error/warning saying that your computer hardware might not support this disk, just ignore it..).
10. Reboot, and you ready to go!

GetMAC provides a quick method for obtaining the MAC (Ethernet) layer address. I've created a small script that rerurens a MAC address (Without delimeter). Here is a content of mac.bat:

@Echo off
SETLOCAL
SET MAC=
SET Media=Connected

FOR /F "Tokens=3 Delims= " %%a in ('getmac^|find "Media"') do set Media=%%a

IF /I %Media% == disconnected (
    FOR /F "Tokens=1-6 Delims=- " %%a in ('getmac^|find "Media"') do set MAC=%%a%%b%%c%%d%%e%%f
    )

IF NOT %Media% == disconnected (
    FOR /F "Tokens=1-6 Delims=- " %%a in ('getmac^|find "Device\Tcpip_"') do set MAC=%%a%%b%%c%%d%%e%%f
    )

@echo %MAC%
ENDLOCAL

Personally, i still prefer use IPv4. In Windows Vista and Windows 2008, IPv6 is enabled by default. I've created a small script to disable IPv6. Here is a content of my DisableIPv6.bat:

@Echo off
@ECHO Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 > %TEMP%\DisableIPv6.reg
@ECHO [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters] >> %TEMP%\DisableIPv6.reg
@ECHO "DisabledComponents"=dword:000000ff >> %TEMP%\DisableIPv6.reg
REGEDIT /S %TEMP%\DisableIPv6.reg

I did a very simple script, and I run it once when I apply a new sysprep image, that imports the date, when this particular image was applied to the specific computer. Sometimes this is very important. Here is a content of my script:

@Echo Off
REM **********************************************************************************************************
REM * This script checks a date Image was deployed and import this data into the Registry as Image-Date REM **********************************************************************************************************

For /f "Tokens=2 Delims= " %%a in ('@DATE /t') do set IMG-DATE=%%a
Echo Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 > %TEMP%\IMG-DATE.reg
Echo [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WRHA] >> %TEMP%\IMG-DATE.reg
Echo "Image-Date"="%IMG-DATE%" >> %TEMP%\IMG-DATE.reg
Reg.exe import %TEMP%\IMG-DATE.reg
Del %TEMP%\IMG-DATE.reg /Q