Just a quick heads up on a new KB article we published today:

=====

Symptoms

Virtual machines report 'Unsupported Cluster Configuration' in System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (SCVMM). The "Refresh Host Cluster" job takes 15-20 minutes to complete in the SCVMM console and you may see that Failover Cluster Manager takes too long to populate the Cluster Shared Volumes and other disk resources. The following error may also be generated:
Warning (13926)
Host cluster was not fully refreshed because not all of the nodes could be contacted. Highly available storage and virtual network information reported for this cluster might be inaccurate.
Recommended Action
Ensure that all the nodes are online and do not have Not Responding status in Virtual Machine Manager. Then refresh the host cluster again.

Cause

This is can be caused by antivirus on-demand scanning as indicated in the example trace below.
Trace Details:
28029,19:49:19.667 09-08-2011,0x1DC0,0x08C0,4,HyperVAuthStore.cs,347,0x00000000,SetRoleAssignment: ignore the exception; retry...,{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000},1,
28030,19:49:19.667 09-08-2011,0x1DC0,0x08C0,4,HyperVAuthStore.cs,347,0x00000000,"Microsoft.Carmine.WSManWrappers.WSManProviderException: The file C:\ClusterStorage\volume24\Volume1.vhd cannot be accessed because it is in use by another process on the <hostName> server.
..Wait until the other process is completed; and then try the operation again.

at Microsoft.Carmine.WSManWrappers.ErrorContextParameterHelper.ThrowTranslatedCarmineException(ErrorInfo ei; Exception ex)

at Microsoft.Carmine.WSManWrappers.WsmanAPIWrapper.Invoke(String actionUri; String url; Hashtable parameters; Type returnType; Boolean isCarmineMethod)

at Microsoft.Carmine.WSManWrappers.AzManUtility.SetRoleAssignment(WsmanAPIWrapper wsmanObject; String Scope; String RoleName; String[] Accounts; Boolean AccountsAreSIDs; ErrorInfo& ErrorInfo)

at Microsoft.VirtualManager.Engine.HyperVAuthStore.SetVMRoleAssignment(Host host; VMData vm; String[] roles; String[] scopes)

*** Carmine error was: HostAgentSharingViolation (2908); HR: 0x80070020
*** C:\ClusterStorage\volume24\Volume1.vhd ** Host1** ",{00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000},1,
Note This is not isolated to anti-virus applications and can also be caused by any application that places a handle on a shared disk.

Resolution

1. Configure your antivirus real time scanning component to exclude scanning .VHD and .AVHD files.
2. Open the SCVMM Admin console and refresh the cluster.
3. The SCVMM Admin console should now display the correct status for the virtual machine.
Note Be sure that you fully understand the implications of any anti-virus changes you make and how they may affect your specific environment.

More Information

Contact the antivirus vendor for further information on disabling the on-demanding scanning or excluding the cluster storage volumes from scanning.
For more information on recommended antivirus exclusions for Hyper-V, please reference the following article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/961804

=====

For the most current version of this article please see the following:

2620177: Virtual Machines report 'Unsupported Cluster Configuration' in System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008

J.C. Hornbeck | System Center Knowledge Engineer

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
AVIcode Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/avicode
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
OOB Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/oob/
Opalis Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/opalis
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
OpsMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/operationsmgr/
SCMDM Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/mdm/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

SQL Server 2008 R2 provides a Sysprep functionality as an advanced installation option: it is a two-step installation process just like the Windows Sysprep tool, which allows user to install SQL Server setup files (Prepare Image step) and then configure to finish SQL Server installation later (Complete Image step). SQL Server Sysprep can be used prior to Windows Sysprep to create an operating system image/VHD that includes an unconfigured SQL Server installation. After completing the configuration of the operating system, users can then configure and complete the SQL Server install.

In addition to the configuration support of Windows operating system (through Guest OS Profile), VMM 2012 added the functionality to support the configuration of SQL Server through SQL Server Profile. With VMM 2012, users can deploy applications (or services in the VMM terms) that contain SQL Server installation.

How to prepare a SQL Server image

It’s strongly recommended to follow the SQL Server instructions on a VM to prepare an image. You can find how to do it with UI from here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/petersad/archive/2009/12/17/sql-server-2008-r2-sysprep-step-by-step.aspx

You can also prepare image from command prompt: go to SQL Server folder where setup.exe is located, and run:

Setup.exe /q /ACTION=PrepareImage /FEATURES=SQL,RS /InstanceID =<MyInstanceID> /IACCEPTSQLSERVERLICENSETERMS

(Note: InstanceID is not the same as InstanceName although they both can be specified during SQL Server installation:  InstanceID is only used during SQL Server installation, and it is actually an identifier so that you can prepare multiple SQL Server instances and refer to a specific one to configure in the Complete Image step; whereas InstanceName is used after SQL Server installation to connect to a SQL Server instance.  It is important to make a note of the InstanceID used during the sysprep operation as this value will be needed when creating the VMM SQL Server Profile below.)

After it finishes, you can run Windows Sysprep tool to prepare a VHD and hand it off to VMM.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc721973(WS.10).aspx

How to use VMM SQL Server profile to deploy SQL Server

SQL Server Profile is supported for services, but not for standalone VM creation. Therefore, there are three main steps to use SQL Server profile to deploy VMs and configure SQL Server:

1.       Create SQL Server profile.

2.       Create Service Template.

3.       Deploy Service.

Here are some more details about each step:

1.       Create SQL Server profile.

1a. Open VMM admin console; click “Library” in the navigation pane; expand “Profiles” you will see SQL Server Profiles; right click “SQL Server Profiles” and choose “Create SQL Server Profile”.

1b. Specify desired SQL Server configurations. In the “New SQL Server Profile dialog”, give a name for the SQL Server profile in the “General” tab; click “SQL Server Configuration” tab; click “New SQL Server Deployment”.

Note: Each SQL Server Deployment corresponds to the configuration of one SQL Server instance. If the configuration of multiple SQL Server instances is desired on the same VM, you need to create multiple SQL Server Deployments.

Most of the settings in this dialog can be mapped to SQL Server setup configurations (SQL Server setup settings can be found here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms144259.aspx). Some are VMM artifacts though, for example, the “Name”, “Installation Run As Account” (specify the account to run SQL Server setup), “Timeout (seconds)” (specify the timeout for this SQL Server installation) properties. Here are the details of each property:

Name: Required. It specifies the name of this SQL Server Deployment and is a VMM artifact.

Instance Name: Optional. It specifies the SQL Server instance name, if not set, default instance name (MSSQLSERVER) will be used.

Instance Id: Required. This is the instance Id that you choose during SQL Server prepare image step.

Installation Run As Account: Optional. The Run As Account under which you want to run the SQL Server setup. It is mainly needed for two reasons: the Complete Image step still needs to access SQL Server installation media, if the SQL Server installation media is in a network share which requires a domain account to access; or, when SQL service accounts need to be domain accounts, which will be validated by SQL Server setup running under this installation account.

This property is VMM artifact: if not specified, VMM service account will be used. Alternatively, you can specify it as a service setting with the double at (“@”) syntax (service setting name enclosed by a starting and trailing “@”, for example, “@SQLInstallAccount@”), and therefore allow to specify the Run As Account later at deployment time. This account has to be in the VM’s administrators group for the SQL Server install to succeed, since SQL Server setup requires administrator privilege.

Product Key: Optional. It specifies the product key for the edition of SQL Server. If it is not specified and the SQL Server does not have volume license, Evaluation is used. Just like Installation Run As Account, this property can also use service setting with the double at (“@”) syntax.

Timeout (seconds): Optional. It specifies the timeout in seconds that SQL Server installation has to finish, and the installation process will be killed when this timeout is reached. The default value is 1 hour.

Media Source: Required. It specifies the path to the installation media folder where setup.exe is located. The Complete Image step still needs to access SQL Server installation media. Most commonly, you can either copy the installation media to the VHD or to a network share.

Note: If network share is used, the Installation Run As Account must be specified and have access to the network share, and it must have administrator privilege for the guest VM as well.  Otherwise, the install process cannot launch.

SQL Server Administrators: Required. Use this parameter to provision logins to be members of the sysadmin role.

Security Mode: Optional. It specifies the SQL Server security mode. If not specified, Windows authentication will be used.

SA Password Run As Account: It specifies the password for the SQL Server sa account, and it is required when the security mode is SQL Server authentication. This field can also use configurable service settings (e.g. @SQL Server SA Run As Account@).

Enable remote connections using TCP/IP: Optional. It specifies the state of the TCP protocol for the SQL Server service.

Enable remote connections using named pipes: Optional. It specifies the state of the Named Pipes protocol for the SQL Server service.

SQL Server configuration file: Among all the settings that SQL Server setup allows to configure, VMM chooses some most commonly used settings and allow users to configure them through VMM UI. For the rest of settings, user can provide an .ini configuration file that includes the desired configurations. This should sound familiar for those who have previously used the Windows OS answer file for VMM OS profile.  Note that this configuration file must be present in a VMM Library Share in order for it to be available.

For example, a sample SQL Server configuration file (sqlConfig.ini) looks like:

[SQLSERVER2008]

AGTSVCSTARTUPTYPE="Manual"

FARMADMINPORT="0"

SQLSVCSTARTUPTYPE="Automatic"

SQL Server Service Run As Account: Required. It specifies the startup account for the SQL Server service.

SQL Server Agent Run As Account: Required. It specifies the account for the SQL Server Agent service.

Reporting Services Run As Account: Optional. It specifies the startup account for Reporting services.

Note: If Windows built-in accounts (“NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM”, “ NT AUTHORITY\LocalService”, “NT AUTHORITY\NetworkService”) are desired, VMM built-in Run As Accounts can be used. Similar to Installation Run As Account, you can specify them as a service setting using the double at (“@”) syntax and allow them to be determined at deployment time.

1c. Click “OK” to save the SQL Server profile.

2.       Create Service Template

2a. Create VM Template. In the “Configure SQL Server” tab, pick the SQL Server profile that we just created.

2b. Create Service Template. In the navigation pane, pick “Library” tab; Expand “Templates”, right click on “Service Templates” and choose “Create Service Template”; Fill in “Name” and “Release”, choose “Single Machine” from “Patterns” and click “OK”. Then in the service template designer, drag and drop the vm template that we just created from “VM Templates” list on the left to the designer canvas; and click “Save and Validate” on the ribbon.

3.       Deploy Service. Click “Configure Deployment” on the ribbon. Here is the “Jobs” view of the service deployment.

We can go to the VM and look at the SQL Server setup logs “%programfiles%\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log\”. The file summary.txt shows that the second step of SQL Server install, i.e., the CompleteImage step, has finished successfully.

Servicing a service with SQL Server profile changes

After a service has been deployed, we can apply changes to it by servicing the service. There are two types of servicing: conventional servicing and image-based servicing, and the main difference between them is that image-based servicing will destroy the VMs in the service and re-create VMs, and more changes (e.g., administrator password, etc.) can be applied since image-based servicing acts like a fresh service deployment.

Servicing a service with SQL Server profile changes is not supported for conventional servicing. This means, if a service’s current service template and pending service template differ in SQL Server profile (e.g., a SQL Server install has been added/removed, or the configuration settings for the same SQL Server install change), these SQL Server profile changes will not be applied during conventional servicing. Below is the conventional servicing UI which shows the warning that SQL Server profile changes will not be applied.

Servicing SQL Server profile is supported for image-based servicing though, but it is not recommended, since the old databases will be destroyed and you will lose data! The following is image-based servicing UI where the actions show VMM will install a SQL Server instance, and it does not have the warning of SQL Server profile change not applicable.

Diagnosing SQL Server deployment failures

When the SQL Server deployment fails, you may take a look at the time-stamped SQL Server setup logs (e.g., 20110516_114104) inside the VM under “%programfiles%\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log\”. If the time-stamped log folder does not exists, the cause is most likely that VMM did not successfully launch the SQL Server setup process; otherwise, the failure is most likely due to incorrect SQL Server settings (e.g., user gives incorrect InstanceId to VMM).

Note: In the failure case, restarting the service deployment/servicing job will skip the failed SQL Server deployment. The following application deployments that depend on the SQL Server instance (e.g., SQL Server data-tier applications) will fail too. Users have to figure out the cause of the failure and fix it out of band (e.g., manually install SQL Server) before restarting the VMM job.

One possible reason for this type of failures is that wrong Media Source is specified where the SQL Server setup.exe file should be located.

Another possible reason is the “Installation Run As Account” specified for VMM to use does not have administrator privilege, but SQL Server setup requires administrator privilege and hence the failure. There are two possible solutions:

a.       Users can re-prepare the vhd image by adding the account for “Installation Run As Account” to the administrators group, and then run Windows Sysprep tool.

b.      If you are using an OS of Windows 2008 or above, you have another option to use a custom OS answer file (.xml) as below (need to replace the domain and user name as highlighted).

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">

    <servicing></servicing>

    <settings pass="oobeSystem">

        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">

            <OOBE>

                <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>

                <HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>true</HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>

                <NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation>

                <ProtectYourPC>3</ProtectYourPC>

            </OOBE>

            <ShowWindowsLive>false</ShowWindowsLive>

            <DisableAutoDaylightTimeSet>false</DisableAutoDaylightTimeSet>

            <BluetoothTaskbarIconEnabled>false</BluetoothTaskbarIconEnabled>

            <TimeZone>Eastern Standard Time</TimeZone>

            <UserAccounts>

                   <DomainAccounts>

                                                <DomainAccountList wcm:action="add">

                                                                <Domain>contoso</Domain>

                                                <DomainAccount wcm:action="add">

                                                                <Name>user1</Name>

                                                                <Group>Administrators</Group>

                                                </DomainAccount>

                                                </DomainAccountList>

                                </DomainAccounts>

            </UserAccounts>

            <DoNotCleanTaskBar>true</DoNotCleanTaskBar>

        </component>

    </settings>

</unattend>

Modify the VM template to pick the above created answer file (in the “OS Configuration” tab of the VM template, choose “Answer File”). Then create a service template with this VM template and deploy service as aforementioned.

2.       SQL Server setup process is launched but terminated due to the timeout is reached. An obvious solution is to increase the timeout.

3.       SQL Server setup fails due to incorrect settings. If the SQL Server setup process is successfully launched, a time-stamped log folder will be created under “%programfiles%\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log\”. The summary.txt file tells us that ComplateImage step failed with some exit/error code (in this case, I intentionally gave a wrong SQL Server InstanceId to VMM). This KB article from MSDN tells user how to read SQL Server setup log files:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955396

Hope this is useful information,

Qingbo Cai, System Development Engineer, SCVMM

Just a quick heads up on a new KB article we published today:

=====

Symptoms

Installation of Virtual Guest Services (integration components) fails in System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (SCVMM) but can be successfully installed manually in Hyper-V. Also, Physical to Virtual (P2V) jobs may fail when installing Virtual Guest Services. Another version of this error displays (Unknown error (0x80072f06)) under the Warning section below:

Warning (2912)
An internal error has occurred trying to contact an agent on the SCVMMMSVR.Contoso.com server.
(The directory is not empty (0x80070091))
Recommended Action
Ensure the agent is installed and running. Ensure the WS-Management service is installed and running, then restart the agent.

Warning (2912)
An internal error has occurred trying to contact an agent on the SCVMMMSVR.Contoso.com server.
(The directory is not empty (0x80072f06))
Recommended Action
Ensure the agent is installed and running. Ensure the WS-Management service is installed and running, then restart the agent.

Cause

There are two possible reasons for this condition:

Realtime antivirus is interfering with communications.

or

Multiple ports exist with an SSL binding to port 443.

Realtime Antivirus
To determine if realtime antivirus is scanning port 443:

At an elevated command prompt run the following command:

netstat –ano | find "443"

If any IP address in the ‘Local Address’ column (besides the ones below) are listening on port 443, there is a conflict.

a. 0.0.0.0:443
b. [::]:443

C:\Windows\system32>netstat -ano

Active Connections

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State PID
TCP 0.0.0.0:443 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING 4
TCP 192.168.1.63:443 0.0.0.0:0 LISTENING 1044

SSL Certificates

To determine if there are SSL certificates bound to two or more ports:

At an elevated command prompt run the following command:

netsh http show sslcert

If any two IP addresses (except the defaults below) share the same Certificate Hash, there is a conflict.

a. IPv4 0.0.0.0:443
b. IPv6 all address [::]:443

C:\Windows\system32>netsh http show sslcert
SSL Certificate bindings:
-------------------------
IP:port : 192.168.1.61:443
Certificate Hash : b435bdda9cab32b4272a80b94b6985acc96bc2de
…
IP:port : 192.168.1.63:443
Certificate Hash : b435bdda9cab32b4272a80b94b6985acc96bc2de
…

Resolution

Possible solutions are listed below. The best solution is to change the default ports used by SCVMM from 443 to another port such as 765. Specific solutions based on problems found are also included.

Best solution for both problems

Change the BITS port used by SCVMM from the default of 443 to another non-used port such as port 765. To do this, perform these steps on the SCVMM server and all managed Hosts:

1. Open Regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager Server\Settings.

2. Locate the BITSTcpPort name on the right. It’s data value should be 443.

a. Double click BITSTcpPort in order to modify the data. Make sure the Base is set to ‘Decimal’.

b. Change 443 to 765, or any other number less than 32768. Do not use a port that another protocol uses such as RDP (3389).

c. Click ‘OK’ to save this value.

3. Restart the ‘Virtual Machine Manager’ and ‘Virtual Machine Manager Agent’ services on the SCVMM server (On managed hosts simply restart the ‘Virtual Machine Manager Agent’ service’).

4. Once complete on the SCVMM server and all Hosts, you can continue using SCVMM.

Solution for Realtime Antivirus

If realtime antivirus is listening on port 443 as ‘192.168.1.63:443’ is in the example above, disable realtime antivirus on the system or make an exclusion for port 443.

Solution for SSL Certificate Binding

If there are multiple ports with an SSL binding to port 443, determine what application is using the binding then remove it if possible. Follow instructions at the following location for more details:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms733791.aspx

More Information

Port 443 is the default port used by SCVMM for SSL and BITS. When there is a conflict with this port various health and operations issues will appear with SCVMM.

=====

For the most current version of this article please see the following:

2623572: Installation of Integration Components or a P2V job in system Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 fails with Error 2912: The directory is not empty (0x80070091)

J.C. Hornbeck | System Center Knowledge Engineer

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
AVIcode Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/avicode
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
OOB Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/oob/
Opalis Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/opalis
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
OpsMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/operationsmgr/
SCMDM Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/mdm/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

VMM 2012 introduces the concept of services: it allows defining service templates (blueprints of user applications), deploying services from service templates (creating VMs and applications), and servicing services with updated service templates (updating VMs and applications). A service template can contain configurable service settings that are referenced within the service template.

Service settings, just like Windows environment variables, are a set of dynamic named values that can affect the way a service is deployed/serviced.

Why Use Service Settings

The main benefits of Service settings are re-usability and deployment time configurability:

1.       Reusability: Service settings can be reused across multiple tiers within a service template and are centrally configurable, this makes service template authoring easier and less error-prone for administrators. For example, in a typical 3-tier web application, the Middle Tier and the Web Tier need to access the same database; in this case, both tiers can uses a service setting called ConnectionString to set the value of the SQL connection string that should be used.

2.       Deployment time configurability: Some information may not be available at the time of service template authoring.  For example, since test and production environments are often in different domains, it is necessary to specify the domain name and domain join credentials at deployment time as opposed to hard coding such information in the service template itself.. Service settings provide the flexibility to defer the value assignment to deployment time, rather than baking them into the service template model. As a result, service settings make it possible to deploy multiple services with different settings from the same service template: users can override the service setting values in Service Deployment Configuration and deploy a service from it.

Syntax for Service Settings

Service settings can contain information such as computer name, file path, database connection string, etc., and can be referenced at a few pre-defined places (for example, the Computer Name property of Guest OS Profile, etc.) within a service template. A service setting is enclosed in paired at sign (“@”): for example, the Computer Name property of Guest OS Profile can be “@SQLComputerName@”. 

Users do not have to define service settings first before using them, VMM 2012 will parse and find out the service settings used in the pre-defined places and show their usages, to further simplify service template authoring.

Note: A service setting name cannot contain at sign (“@”); to express literal at sign (“@”), use double at sign (“@@”).

Types of Service Settings

There are two types of Service Setting: string type and Run As Account type, depending on where the service setting is referenced. For example, a service setting referenced by the domain join Run As Account in an OS profile is Run As Account type; a service setting referenced by Computer Name in an OS profile is string type. Users do not need to specify the type of a service setting, VMM figures it out as part of the automatic discovery process mentioned earlier.

Properties of Service Settings

A service setting has the following properties:

Name: name of a service setting, and it is the string between the paired at signs (service setting delimiters)

Description: Service template authors can add description for service setting, say, about the usage.

Mandatory (1st checkbox): Service template authors can check this checkbox to make sure a value is provided during deployment.

Encryption (2nd checkbox): Service template authors can check this checkbox to tell VMM that the value needs to be encrypted and handled securely (transported/stored in DB securely).

Value: Service template authors can specify default value, and it can be overridden at deployment time with deployment specific values.

The following is the properties dialog for a string type service setting.

For Run As Account type service settings (as shown in the following dialog), Mandatory and Encryption properties are determined by VMM and are not user settable; and the Value property can be set using a Run As Account picker.

Where Service Setting can be used

As aforementioned, service settings can be referenced at a few pre-defined places, and here is the list:

1.        The Value property of an application setting under an application in an application profile (see fig below).

2.       The Parameter property and Run As Account property of application profile-level script (see figure below) or application-level script.

3.       The Deployment Run As Account property of SQL Data Tier Application in application profile.

4.       The following properties in VM Template/Guest OS Profile: Identity information (computer name), product key, domain, domain Run As account, admin Run As account.

5.       Application host machine name

6.       SQL script command parameters.

7.       All Run As Account properties and Product Key property of SQL Server Deployment in SQL profile

Create Service Template with Service Settings

Now, we are ready to create a service template with service settings. Steps are:

1.       Create a VM template from above created application profile, guest OS profile, and SQL Server profile. (In the “Library” navigation pane, expand “Templates”, right click on “VM Templates” and select “Create VM Template”)

Specify to use application profile, guest OS profile, and SQL Server profile created above.

2.       Create a service template with the VM template. In the “Library” navigation pane, expand “Templates”, right click on “Service Templates” and select “Create Service Template”. For simplicity, choose to create a single tier service template.

Drag and drop the VM template from the “VM Templates” pane on the left to the service designer canvas, then click on “Save and Validate Service Template”, and close the service designer.

A service template has been created, and the service template properties dialog will show the service settings and their usage. (right click on the newly created service template, and choose “Properties”)

How Service Settings can be used

We next look at two scenarios where service settings are used: service deployment scenario, and service servicing scenario.

At the time of service template authoring, we can give default values to service settings. During service deployment, the default value of service settings can be overridden, this way we can create different services from the same service template. For example, the same service template can be used to deploy to test environment with one set of credentials and another to deploy to production environment, without having to change the service template.

For an existing service, we can service it by attaching an updated service template (with modified service settings) to it.

1.       Service deployment scenario

Up till now, we have created a service template with service settings. Let’s deploy it!

During service deployment (right click on the service template and choose “Configure Deployment”), the default value can be overridden and the specified overriding value will be used for deploying that service. For example, in the screenshot below, setting “MyDomain” uses the default value “contoso.com”, whereas setting “SQLAdminAccount” overridden the default value to use “NT AUTHORITY/System” Run As Account. When the deployment starts (click the green arrow icon “Deploy Service”), the service settings will be replaced with their values where referenced, that is, the vm will join domain “contoso.com”, and SQL Server will use “NT AUTHORITY/System” Run As Account as SA account.

After a service is deployed, service settings are also stored with the service. The screenshot below shows the service settings of a different service using PowerShell cmdlets.

2.  Service servicing scenario

VMM provides full life-cycle management for services. After a service has been deployed, we can still make changes to it through service servicing. We can either set the service template of the service to be the updated service template; or, if servicing is scoped to applications (e.g., application settings such as database connection strings need to be changed), we can set the servicing settings directly. Now we walk through these two different cases respectively.

Case 1: Servicing a service by updating the service template

In the following example, a newer version of the service template is created with setting “lobComputerName” value changed from “mtComputerName” to “NewLobComputerName” (this can be done by right click on the original service template and choose “copy”, then change the new copy’s service settings). Now, let’s apply the newer version service template to the service (by right click the service and choose “Set Template”, and then choose the newer version service template).

 

We can see the settings value change for setting “lobComputerName” (New Value in bold): Current value is the value currently being used in the service; New Value comes from the newer version service template, it is the target value for servicing. After servicing finishes successfully, New Value will become Current Value.

 

The summary for servicing actions is also shown. Since setting “lobComputerName” is used in an application, changing in its value leads to an application update.

After servicing has successfully completed, the setting “lobComputerName” gets the New Value (New Value before servicing becomes the Current Value after servicing), as shown in the Power Shell screenshot.

Case 2: Servicing a service by updating the service settings directly

When the servicing scope is the applications in a service, we can directly set the service settings that are referenced by application settings, and the service setting changes will be applied to appropriate applications.

In the following example, we change the service setting “lobComputerName” value from “mtComputerName” to “NewLobComputerName”. Since this service setting is referenced by a WebDeploy application’s settings, the application setting change will be applied during servicing.

Similar as the above servicing case, we right click the service and choose “Set Template”, and then choose “Modify application settings for this service”.

 

Next, give the new value to the service setting and click next.

 

The servicing actions show an update action for the WebDeploy application.

I hope you found this blog informative and helpful.  For more information on SCVMM 2012 Service Creation feature please check out our TechNet Library.

Qingbo Cai – SCVMM 2012 System Development Engineer

In VMM2012, sensitive data like RunAs Account passwords are encrypted using the configured encryption technology.

There are two options for which technology to use for encryption key management. These are:

1.       DPAPI: This is the default. All previous VMM versions use this. Encryption keys are stored on the VMM server.

2.       Distributed Key Management: Encryption keys are stored in Active Directory. For Highly Available VMM installations, this is the only option for storing encryption keys.

Option 2  might have an initial configuration overhead; however, the encryption keys will still be on AD if the VMM server machine is lost, which aides in a quicker restoration.   Especially, in the scenarios like formatting the VMM server machine, disk drive failure or reinstalling your VMM server on another machine, the keys will still be there.   With Option1 you will need to redefine all your sensitive data like RunAs account passwords for these scenarios.

We will focus on Option 2 (Distributed Key Management) for this blog post.

In order to configure Distributed Key Management, during setup, you will be asked to enter the location in AD that you would like to use for storing your encryption keys. The location is the distinguished name of the container.

The prerequisite of Option 2 is that the user running VMM server setup needs to have the following access rights on the location that you specify during setup.

·         Generic Read,

·         Generic Write

·         Create Child

Definition of these rights in AD:

Here is how you specify the AD location during VMM Server setup.

If the user running setup has the right to create container in AD (under Container1 or VMMDKM), nothing else is necessary. Here is what happens in detail.

1.       VMM Setup checks if there is a VMMDKM container under Container1. If there is VMMDKM container already created in AD,

2.       VMM Setup creates a new container under VMMDKM and gives necessary permissions to the VMM Service account for this new container.  Note that the VMM Service account is also selected in this wizard page. For HA VMM installations Local System account is disabled.

3.       If VMMDKM container does not exist in AD, setup tries to create that container first and then goes ahead with Step 2.

Below is how container looks like after setup;

I hope this information was informative and helpful.  Please refer to our TechNet Library for more details on VMM 2012 setup.

KR Kandavel – System Development Engineer in Test

Here’s another new KB article we published today. This one involves a VMM R2 migration appearing to take longer than expected:

=====

Symptoms

Transfers during a System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 (SCVMM R2) migration appear to take longer than expected.

Cause

This can happen because in SCVMM R2, BITS transfers are set to be encrypted by default.

Resolution

This is by design, although if you have implemented another form of encryption such as IPsec, or have otherwise secured your virtualized environment, you may want to take advantage of the new option in SCVMM R2 to allow unencrypted file transfers for individual library servers and individual host groups. Allowing unencrypted file transfers can improve performance during virtual machine creation and migration. For files to be transferred unencrypted, unencrypted file transfers must be allowed on both the source and destination computer. This option is available by updating the properties of the library server.

Disable Bits encryption for both Hosts and the SCVMM Library:

Disabling SCVMM 2008 R2 Encrypted Transfers for Hosts

1. Open the VMM Administrator Console
2. Depending on your environment configuration, select the Host Groups (e.g. All Hosts) that has all of your Hyper-V hosts
3. Right-click on the Host Folder (e.g. All Hosts)
4. In the ‘Allow Unencrypted file transfers’, check the box.

1. Open the VMM Administrator Console
2. Click the Library tab (displays Library servers, assets)
3. Right-click on the library server and select properties
4. Check the ‘Allow unencrypted file transfers’
5. Click OK

More Information

References:

How to Modify the Properties of a Host Group : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc956106.aspx
How to Allow Unencrypted File Transfers for a Library Server : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee236497.aspx
Hardening VMM Library Servers : http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd548289.aspx

For the following issues please reference the blog post below:

How to Troubleshoot Slow BITS Performance, Hosts 'Not Responding' and 'Needs Attention' Communication Issues : http://blogs.technet.com/b/jonjor/archive/2008/12/29/how-to-troubleshoot-slow-bits-performance-hosts-not-responding-and-needs-attention-communication-issues.aspx

1. Deployment or migration of data utilizing LAN (not SAN Transfer) is very slow in general
2. BITS is slow in one direction only: Fast from Host01 to Host02, but slow from Host02 to Host01 for example
3. Host reports in SCVMM Admin Console "Host not responding" or "Needs attention"
4. Under 'Status' of the Host the following may show "Not Responding"
- Connection status
- Agent Status

=====

For the most current version of this article please see the following:

2625478: Migration job transfers may take longer than expected in System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2

J.C. Hornbeck | System Center Knowledge Engineer

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
AVIcode Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/avicode
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
OOB Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/oob/
Opalis Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/opalis
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
OpsMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/operationsmgr/
SCMDM Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/mdm/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

We recently posted the VMM 2012 error codes to the TechNet wiki. The main page is located here: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/4906.aspx.

For each error code, the error or warning message and recommended action is listed. The recommended action is the in-product troubleshooting information that is displayed together with the error or warning message. There’s also an Additional Troubleshooting Information column. This is where you can all help add value. If you know more about how to troubleshoot an error than what is included in the Recommended Action (in product) column, please edit the wiki page to add that information. To edit you need to sign in with a Windows Live account. For information about how to join the wiki, see http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/129.aspx.

(Note that the VMM 2008 R2 (including SP1) error codes are also posted to the TechNet wiki at http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/virtual-machine-manager-vmm-2008-r2-error-codes.aspx.)

Thanks!

VMM Content Team

Here’s one more KB article we published today. This one talks about an issue where the reinstallation of System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 fails with "Library Share ‘MSSCVMMLibrary’ already exists":

=====

Symptoms

When attempting to reinstall System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 (SCVMM) the installation fails with the following error:

Library Share MSSCVMMLibrary already exists.
Specify a unique library share name, and then try the operation again.
ID: 819

Cause

This can occur if there is a mismatch in the local path field in the SCVMM database for the corresponding library (i.e. the path of the Library seen in the database is different from the actual path of the Library).

Resolution

1. Take a backup of the SCVMM Database. See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc956045.aspx for more details.
2. Open the SQL Management Studio and browse to the VirtualManagerDB database.
3. Right-click on the tbl_IL_LibraryShare table and select Edit Top 200 Rows (or Select the Top 1000 depending on your installation). This will contain the share name and the local share path.
4. The LocalPath field will have a path that will be incorrect. Change it to the correct path if it is pointing to the wrong location.
5. Begin the process of re-installing SCVMM 2008 R2 again.

=====

To continue reading this article please see the link below:

2629737: Reinstallation of System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 fails with "Library Share ‘MSSCVMMLibrary’ already exists"

J.C. Hornbeck | System Center Knowledge Engineer

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
AVIcode Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/avicode
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
OOB Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/oob/
Opalis Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/opalis
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
OpsMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/operationsmgr/
SCMDM Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/mdm/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

Here’s another great new KB article we published today. This one will tell you how to fix an issue where a P2V fails with error 8007001F:

=====

Symptoms

A System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (SCVMM) Physical to Virtual (P2V) conversion fails when attempting to mount a .VHD file, reporting that a device attached to the system is not functioning. The hex code is highly correlated with this issue.

Error (12700)
VMM cannot complete the Hyper-V operation on the contoso10.com server because of the error: 'The system failed to mount 'C:\ClusterStorage\Volume3\NewSystem\C_2011-11-29T035848.vhd'. Error Code: A device attached to the system is not functioning.
(A device attached to the system is not functioning (0x8007001F))

Cause

This can occur if antivirus realtime scanning places a lock on the file in the error message, making it impossible for SCVMM to continue operations.

Resolution

Modify the antivirus realtime scanning operations so that the file extensions and processes below are excluded. Perform this action on the SCVMM Server and all Hosts it manages.

To resolve this issue, configure the real-time scanning component within your antivirus software to exclude the following directories and files:

• Default virtual machine configuration directory (C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V)
• Custom virtual machine configuration directories
• Default virtual hard disk drive directory (C:\Users\Public\Documents\Hyper-V\Virtual Hard Disks)
• Custom virtual hard disk drive directories
• Snapshot directories
• Vmms.exe (Note: May need to be configured as process exclusions within the antivirus software)
• Vmwp.exe (Note: May need to be configured as process exclusions within the antivirus software)
• All VHD, AVHD, VSV and ISO files

More Information

For more information on antivirus options with Microsoft products see this article.

Virus scanning recommendations for Enterprise computers that are running currently supported versions of Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/822158

=====

To continue reading this article please see the link below:

2628135: A System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 P2V fails with 'A device attached to the system is not functioning (0x8007001F)'

J.C. Hornbeck | System Center Knowledge Engineer

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
AVIcode Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/avicode
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
OOB Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/oob/
Opalis Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/opalis
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
OpsMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/operationsmgr/
SCMDM Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/mdm/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

When the Update Management feature is enabled in VMM 2012, the admin starts by adding a pre-built WSUS server to VMM 2012.  The following blog details how to use the VMM Sample baselines created when VMM 2012  adds an Update Server (WSUS Server).  The following steps should help you understand the process flow that occurs when a sample  baseline or any custom created baseline is assigned to fabric servers.  Of particular focus, in this blog, is the outline of the communication flow  between VMM 2012 , WSUS Server, and the managed computer’s WUA agent during baseline assignment and server scan and remediation.

The following detail assumes you are using a dedicated WSUS server, but if you are using a shared WSUS server please ensure the environment is set up properly before proceeding. (See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh341476.aspx.)  This applies to situations where you are using a WSUS server that is managed by SCCM or using a straight WSUS server.

1.       Two sample baselines get created when an update server (WSUS) is added to VMM.  These baselines contain all hot fixes that are security or critical according to the products types selected in WSUS.    In this example, when WSUS was set up, the products were selected according to the supported Operating Systems  supported by the VMM 2012 for Fabric servers. 

By default, this sample baseline has no assignments.  This means it is simply a sample object performing no function until you start using it.  To start using this baseline a user should provide a custom name, modify any updates (add/remove), and assign scope.

2.       What happens when Baseline scope is assigned? In VMM the change properties  of a baseline job kicks off:

Inside this running job, VMM is communicating with WSUS and the following occurs:

·         VMM is adds the VMM managed computers scoped within the baseline to a target group in WSUS called SCVMM Managed Computers.

·         VMM approves the updates in the baseline for this WSUS target group for scan and install.

3.       When the job is complete, enter the Fabric space and switch to the Compliance View.  In this view the servers that were scoped to the baseline are in an Unknown Compliance status and have an operational status of Pending Compliance Scan. 

a.       These two states occur when a computer is assigned a new baseline or an existing baseline assigned to a computer is modified.  For example, each month I add a select set of patches to my Security Baseline.  All  computers assigned to this baseline will go into a compliance scan of Unknown and operational status of Pending Compliance Scan.  This lets the administrator know something has changed and that action is required.

4.       Determining Compliance – Right click on the object and select the Scan Action or select the object and use the Scan Action in the Ribbon.

What is happening during the Compliance scan job?

a.       VMM contacts the VMM Agent on the managed computer.

b.      The VMM agent triggers the WUA on the managed computer to scan.

c.       WUA agent on the managed computer contacts WSUS.

d.      The managed computer scans itself against approved updates within the target group.

e.      The WUA on the managed computer delivers the scan results to the VMM agent.

f.        The VMM agent filters the scan information based upon what is required in the baseline and delivers that back to the VMM Server.

g.       The VMM server displays the compliance status of the managed computer.

5.       To view the detailed Compliance status of a managed computer use the Compliance Properties action.

Compliance Properties dialog brings up a detailed list of the compliance according to each assigned baseline:

6.       Remediation - In VMM the next step is to use Remediation to bring the managed computer into Compliance.

For the purpose of this blog we are patching a single computer so no orchestration is required.  Simply select the managed computer for remediation, the remediation dialog appears.  By default any non-compliance patches are automatically selected, but if desired that can be modified to be as granular as you need.

The remediation job starts and the steps below describe what is happening within the context of the running job.

a.       VMM sends a list of required updates to the VMM agent on the managed computer.

b.      The VMM agent instructs the WUA agent to installed the updates specified in the remediation job.

c.       The WUA performs the installation and when it is complete delivers the results to the VMM agent.

d.      The VMM agent delivers the results back to the VMM server and the compliance status is reflected in the Compliance view.

Hopefully, this will help everyone understand how to use a sample baseline and the process flow for when a baseline is assigned.  From this you should also understand the communication flow between VMM, WSUS, and the WUA agent on each managed computer.

Carmen M. Summers – Senior Program Manager, VMM 2012

Greetings, this is part 2 of a 5 part series on the Update Management feature in VMM 2012.  The first post in this series is located on the SCVMM Blog.

In the Update Management feature for VMM 2012 synchronization of the Update Server with WU/MU catalog is handled on-demand.  In more detail, to initiate an Update Server Synchronization a VMM administrator invokes the Synchronize Update Server action.  When this action is invoked VMM 2012 initiates a call to the Update Server. The Update Server, which is the WSUS Server VMM is using, invokes a synchronization with the WU/MU catalog hosted on the Internet.  Once the WSUS server completes the synchronization VMM 2012 imports the incremental changes into it’s database.  Customers have reported the desire to automate the synchronization of the  Update Server on a schedule.  Leveraging the power of System Center Orchestrator and VMM Cmdlets this can be accomplished.   The following blog will detail how to develop a PowerShell script  based on VMM 2012 Cmdlets to automate the Update Server synchronization using SCORCH 2012.

Note: The blog also leverages the use of Servicing Windows in VMM 2012, but this is optional as synchronization of a catalog is a system related task this normally does not require a servicing window.

All scripts referenced in this blog can be downloaded from the Script Center.

1.       SCVMM Environment Pre-requisite:

-       Windows PowerShell v2.0 installed on VMM server

-          Update Server added to VMM 2012

-          Create Servicing Window record by name – SWForUpdateSync – to schedule update server synchronization

 

2.       PowerShell Script Reference:

-         VMMUpdateServerSync.ps1 – Main script implementing the Update Server Synchronization scenario

-          VMMUpdateutil.ps1 – Common script implementing common functions used in the main script

-          VMMScriptRunFromSCORCH.ps1 – Script to run the Main script from remote machine or SCORCH workflow

3.       Automation flow:

-          PowerShell script (VMMUpdateServerSync.ps1) performs following operations :

Ø  Check current time is within the Servicing Window time or not

Ø  Perform Update Server synchronization using VMM cmdlet - Start-SCUpdateServerSynchronization

Ø  Check the submitted VMM Job progress and log the status in file of form – VMMUpdateServerSyncyyyyMMddHHmmss.txt

-          Create SC Orchestrator workflow or use Windows Task Scheduler to schedule executing the  powershell script at a specified time

 

4.       PowerShell Script Pre-requisite:

-          Create following directories on a machine to install the script :

Ø  C:\SCVMM\UpdateAutomation (Copy all the scripts here)

Ø  C:\SCVMM\UpdateAutomation\Output (Output from script run is created here)

Note: For changing the directory names modify the Main script file.

Location to modify:

$scriptdir="c:\scvmm\UpdateAutomation"

5.       PowerShell Script - Parameter Options:

n/a

6.       PowerShell Script Execution Types:

-          From SCVMM Console:

Ø  Copy the following two scripts to SCVMM Library share and execute the script from VMM Console (e.g – Library -> MSCVMMLibrary -> Scripts -> VMMUpdateServerSync.ps1 -> Run)

²  VMMUpdateServerSync.ps1

²  VMMUpdateutil.ps1

Note: Change the parameter values in Main script to run the script directly on VMM console

 

-          From PowerShell prompt on a remote machine installed with SCVMM console

Ø  Copy the following two scripts to the directory mentioned in Powershell Script Pre-requisite section and run the main script :

²  VMMUpdateServerSync.ps1

²  VMMUpdateutil.ps1

Ø  Execute the command using following syntax :

²  Powershell <Path To Script>\ VMMUpdateServerSync.ps1 <VMM Server Name> <Domain User> <Password>

-          From Powershell prompt on a remote machine not installed with SCVMM console

Ø  Copy the following three scripts to the directory mentioned in Powershell Script Pre-requisite section on a remote machine :

²  VMMUpdateServerSync.ps1

²  VMMUpdateutil.ps1

²  VMMScriptRunFromSCORCH.ps1

Ø  Ensure powershell ver. 2.0 is installed on SCVMM server and enable PSRemoting

²  Enable-PSRemoting

Ø  Execute the following command to run the Main script from remote machine

²  powershell <Path To Script>\VMMScriptRunFromSCORCH.ps1 –VMMServer <VMMServer> -DomainUser <DomainUser> -Password <Password> -ScriptFile VMMUpdateServerSync.ps1

-          From SC Orchestrator workflow

Ø  Create a workflow to trigger the Main script either directly or through Remote script

Ø  To trigger the powershell script use .Net script object in the workflow

Ø  Sample property setting for .Net script object:

²  General: SCVMM Update Server Sync

²  Details: Language Type: Powershell, In the script window copy the Remote script (VMMScriptRunFromSCORCH.ps1)

²  Parameters : Set the parameters (VMMServer, DomainUser, Password, ScriptFile) in the script to match the environment. Set ScriptFile=VMMUpdateServerSync.ps1.

Ø  Use Scheduler object to run the workflow at regular intervals recursively

Ø  Add other workflow objects as required

Ø  Sample Orchestrator workflow image:

Wrapping Up

We hope you find the scripts useful to automate the patching feature of SCVMM. The scripts are supplied to demonstrate the flexibility in integrating the System Center products and automating the in-box features. Customize the add value solution to meet your Datacenter requirement for patching and increase the operational efficiency. Please feel free to submit feedback through the Connect site and ask questions on the VMM forums.   Also, make sure to visit the VMM 2012 TechNet Library!

Thanks,

Here’s another good KB article we published today on SCVMM 2008. This one describes an issue that may generate a couple different errors when trying to do a P2V of Windows Server 2003 (32-bit or 64-bit):

=====

Symptoms

When using System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 (SCVMM), a Physical to Virtual (P2V) conversion of Windows Server 2003 x86 or x64 fails with one of a few possible errors. Two common errors are 'An I/O error occurred' error 0x80131516, and 'required files are missing' error (13257).

Example 1

Warning (13257)
Virtual Machine Manager server is unable to convert <ServerName> because required files are missing.

Recommended Action
Copy the file SP2.CAB to "C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2\Patch Import" on the Virtual Machine Manager server, run the Add-Patch cmdlet to add the required files to the Virtual Machine Manager patch cache, and then try the operation again. The file SP2.CAB is located either at %WINDIR%\Driver Cache\i386 on <ServerName>, or on the Microsoft(R) Windows(R) Server 2003, Standard Edition (ENU, i386) installation media.n/ If SP2.CAB is not available, locate dc21x4.sys (Version: 5.5.5.0) on the installation media, copy the file to "C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2\Patch Import", and then run the Add-Patch cmdlet to add the required files to the Virtual Machine Manager patch cache.

Example 2

Error (2920)
An I/O error occurred while opening the file C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2\Patch Import\atapi.sys on the <ServerName> server.
(Unknown error (0x80131516))

Cause

The .NET Garbage Collector prevents SCVMM from properly adding a required patch.

Resolution

Create a file named 'vmmservice.exe.config' and place it in the same directory as vmmservice.exe, '%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Program Files\Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2\Bin.' Place the information below in the file and nothing else. Restart the VMM Service and try the Add-Patch command contained in the error again.

<configuration
<runtime>
<gcServer enabled="false"/>
</runtime>
</configuration>

More Information

Many articles similar to this state to simply remove 'vmmservice.exe.config' if found in the same directory as vmmservice.exe, '%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Program Files\Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2\Bin.' This is not enough if garbage collection has already been set. The resolution above reverses the 'gcServer enabled' setting from what may be 'true' to 'false.'

Garbage collection is required for SCVMM in some situations when there are over 150 Hosts. For more information see the articles below.

Configuring Garbage Collection on the Server
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc165011.aspx

How to enable server-optimized garbage collector for VMM
http://blogs.technet.com/b/m2/archive/2009/02/04/how-to-enable-server-optimized-garbage-collector-for-vmm.aspx

=====

For the most current version of this article please see the following:

2650412: A System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 P2V of Windows 2003 fails with reference to SP2.cab (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2650412)

J.C. Hornbeck | System Center Knowledge Engineer

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
AVIcode Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/avicode
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
OOB Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/oob/
Opalis Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/opalis
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
OpsMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/operationsmgr/
SCMDM Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/mdm/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

Greetings,

Here are some great cross blog posts from a PM on our SCVMM Team, Hector Linares.  Enjoy!

Windows Server 8: Standards-Based Storage Management

SCVMM 2012: Live from SNIA SMILab Plugfest – Creating 50 VMs using SAN based Rapid Provisioning

SCVMM 2012 Quick Tip: Finding which storage arrays a Hyper-V host can see

Enjoy,

Carmen Summers – SCVMM

Within the properties of a host, we now have a new section named "Status".  This interface provides a general idea of the health state of the agent, before you needed to connect to the server and see if services were started. As a result, this can take some time and did not provide a description of why we were experiencing problems.

With this new interface, you are provided a single view of the most important services that VMM interacts with. The interface will also allow you to start services and some of the components or give a description on why it's failing. The status view provides a column for categories and the status of the services. It also has a remediation column that indicates if there is some action that can take place to correct the situation with the service.

Below we provide an overview of the categories and what options are available to fix the problems.

- Network - Will monitor the networking activity, if this section returns an error it is most likely that it cant ping the agent. You can select the refresh button to refresh the status.

- WinRM - This category will present any issues pertaining to WINRM services or problems communicating with the WINRM service

- Host agent Overall - Has several sub components and presents any issues with the VMM agent itself.

o Host agent service - If the agent service is stopped you could restart the service by selecting the repair all button and you will be presented with a window that will try to start the agent service

o Host agent version - if the version is an unsupported version or it is older than the console version it will present an error.

o WMI Performance counters - In VMM2012 we have created specific performance counters for the VMM agent. If the agent has problems with the system center specific performance counters, it will display errors. Possible remediation here is to restart the VMM agent services.

- Hyper-V Role Overall

o Hyper-V Image Management Service - monitors the service and if problems are detected the repair all button will be enabled and will restart the service on the host.

o Hyper-V Network Management Service - monitors the service and if problems are detected the repair all button will be enabled and will restart the service on the host.

o Hyper-V Role Version - Will indicate that the current version of hyper-v is out of date.

o Hyper-V Virtual Machine Management Service - monitors the service and if problems are detected the repair all button will be enabled and will restart the service on the host.

We hope this description can help you understand the status of an agent and be able to remediate any situation with services.

One of the cool new features in System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 (SCVMM 2012) is the ability to execute commands remotely to a host. This feature can be useful in scenarios where you want to start a service or collect information from a remote host. You can also use custom resources you added to the scvmm library to run commands. Custom resources can consist of batch files that can execute specific commands against the server but the use of custom resources is not required.

Let’s go over some examples on how to use this feature. The scenario below is the one where we want to start a service on a SCVMM host. In the SCVMM console select a host, then from the toolbar select the Host tab and select Run Script Command.

This will open the following window:

We want to start a service named sftlist, so we will type cmd.exe for the Executable program. For parameters, we will type /q /c net start sftlist. The /q will turn echo off for the command line and /c will carry out the command and then terminates. If you do not use these switches, the outcome will be a return code 0 from the cmd.exe process and it will not display the actual result of the command in the job. Once ready, you can click ok and monitor the job in the scvmm console for the result

If the command fails on the host, you can go to c:\windows\temp and look for a log in the following format, gce_stderrorxxxxxxxxxx.log. This log will have the result of the command that was executed and will match the error returned by the job.

Let’s go over another example, this time using custom resources.

Using a script within a custom resource can help you execute more commands or customize execution. For this to work, the files need to be in the SCVMM library server and the library has to be refreshed. Once you are ready you can select a host.  From the toolbar select the Host tab, and then select Run Script Command.

This will open the following window:

For this example we included a batch file named services.cmd under a custom resource folder named troublehoot.cr. The batch will perform a net stop sftlist /y and then a net start sftlist. In the executable program we will type cmd.exe, and in parameters we will type /q /c services.cmd. The /q will turn echo off for the command line and /c will carry out the command and then terminates. If you do not use these switches, the outcome will be a return code 0 from cmd.exe process and it will not display the actual result of the command in the job. Under script resource package, we will select troubleshoot.cr and we will specify a run as account. Once ready, you can click OK and monitor the job in the scvmm console for the result.

In this scenario, the custom resource folder will be transferred to the agent host and copied under windows\temp. A folder with the following format, scvmm.xxxxxxxx, will be created and will contain all the files. From here, it will execute the batch file and the agent will return the corresponding outcome to scvmm and display it in the job. If the script generates an error, it will create a log under c:\windows\temp in the following format, gce_stderrorxxxxxxxxxx.log.

Alvin Morales | Senior Support Escalation Engineer

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
AVIcode Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/avicode
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
OOB Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/oob/
Opalis Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/opalis
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
OpsMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/operationsmgr/
SCMDM Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/mdm/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

The Forefront Server Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/fss/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

There is a really important web cast that is happening tomorrow that I wanted to remind you all about.  You won't want to miss it.

Here is the description of the event.  Registration link is below.

The definition, business value, and technology benefits of the “the cloud”
have been hotly debated in recent months. Most agree that cloud computing can
accelerate innovation, reduce costs, and increase business agility in the
market. In 2012, cloud computing will transition from hype and discussion, to
part of every enterprise’s reality, and IT is uniquely positioned to lead this
transformation and help business reap the benefits of cloud computing.

Join us for a virtual event designed to help you explore your cloud options.
It’s your chance to interact with Microsoft experts and with IT leaders like
yourself, who have been putting cloud technology to work in their own
organizations. You’ll be among the first to hear the latest private cloud news
from Microsoft.

Please go to the Registration to sign up!

If you can't watch the web cast live, it will be recorded and available on demand.

See you there!

At the webcast this morning Satya Nadella, President of the Server and Tools Division, and Brad Anderson, Corporate Vice President of Management and Security at Microsoft announced the availability of System Center 2012 RC and introduced the new licensing model for System Center.  The entire suite is now available for download from one convenient location.

Please go watch the recording of the web cast to learn more!

Also - check out Brad Anderson's blog post:

System Center 2012: Where Public and Private Clouds Meet

Get more information

See where you stand with our Private Cloud Assessment

Download the Microsoft Private Cloud Whitepaper

For the latest news and updates, case studies, demos, and more visit the Microsoft Private Cloud web site

Download evaluation software or attend our Microsoft Virtual Academy courses.

Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012, a management solution for the virtualized data center, lets a system administrator manage virtualization hosts, networking, and storage resources. With Virtual Machine Manager 2012, you can optimize your existing investments by managing multiple-hypervisor environments in a single pane of glass. In this webcast, we demonstrate how you can use Virtual Machine Manager 2012 to create and deploy virtual machines and private clouds. We show how you can pool and dynamically allocate virtualized data center resources, enabling self-service infrastructure experience for your business, with flexible role-based delegation and access control.

Join presenter John Baker, Senior IT Pro Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation as he delivers TechNet Webcast: From Virtualization to Private Cloud with System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 on Wednesday, February 1 at 10:00am Pacific time.

For all the details please see the MS Events site here.

J.C. Hornbeck | System Center & Security Knowledge Engineer

Get the latest System Center news on Facebook and Twitter:

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
AVIcode Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/avicode
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
OOB Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/oob/
Opalis Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/opalis
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
OpsMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/operationsmgr/
SCMDM Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/mdm/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

The Forefront Server Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/fss/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/

So - now that the Release Candidate of System Center 2012 is out and the general availbility is fast approaching you may be starting to get more serious about getting up to speed on System Center 2012.  Am I right?

Don't even worry!  We are here to help you get up to speed fast with lots of different opportunities to learn from Microsoft presenters, MVPs, and other experts in System Center.

Here is a list of some of the upcoming events:

System Center Universe

January 19th in Austin, TX and webcast live around the world.  That's tomorrow!!

We have a great lineup of speakers from Microsoft, MVPs, and other experts.

This event was sponsored by Microsoft and some of our partners and is the first of its kind.

Check out the Agenda and Speakers.  While you are at it check out the Sponsors!

Register here: http://www.systemcenteruniverse.com/UserGroupViewings

There is also a version of it in Asia which you can attend in person or watch the live stream:

http://www.systemcenteruniverse.asia/

Microsoft Jump Start - Creating and Managing a Private Cloud with System Center 2012

This is a Microsoft produced two day training presented by our Technical Product Managers for free as a live virtual classroom.

February 21-22, 2012 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM PST

You can see the course outline, speakers, and register at the site:

http://mctreadiness.com/MicrosoftCareerConferenceRegistration.aspx?pid=298

Microsoft Management Summit 2012

Last, but certainly not least is the Microsoft Management Summit.  This is the big daddy.  An entire week of nothing but System Center and management!  There are literally hundreds of sessions, self-paced labs, instructor-led labs, birds of a feather sessions, etc.

It will be held in Vegas at the Venetian again this year.

April 16-20

You can see the agenda, sponsors, and register at the MMS site:

http://mms-2012.com

Hurry, early bird registration that saves you $275 ends on January 27th!

Please join us for a high level discussion into Microsoft software investments designed to cover most of the major product lines.  This will be a 35,000 foot view into the following areas:

• Windows Family
• Virtualization
• Office System
• Unified Communications
• IT Management
• Security

This particular webcast is scheduled for Friday, January 20 at 1:00pm Pacific Time although others are scheduled as well.  See this link for more information.

J.C. Hornbeck | System Center & Security Knowledge Engineer

Get the latest System Center news on Facebook and Twitter:

App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/appv/
AVIcode Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/avicode
ConfigMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/configurationmgr/
DPM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/dpm/
MED-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/medv/
OOB Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/oob/
Opalis Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/opalis
Orchestrator Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/orchestrator/
OpsMgr Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/operationsmgr/
SCMDM Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/mdm/
SCVMM Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/scvmm
Server App-V Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/serverappv
Service Manager Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager
System Center Essentials Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/systemcenteressentials
WSUS Support Team blog: http://blogs.technet.com/sus/

The Forefront Server Protection blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/fss/
The Forefront Identity Manager blog : http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ms-identity-support/
The Forefront TMG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/isablog/
The Forefront UAG blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/edgeaccessblog/