SCCM 2012 Subnet Boundaries. IDs and Subnet Masks: Thank YOU, Jason Sandys.

Recently, in my new SCCM 2012 environment a couple of W7 laptops started to display a worrying issue. The Config Manager client was not showing all the tabs, nor were there enough Policies and all the Components were listed as Installed but the necessary ones weren't enabled.

Every search on Google came back with Boundary (and Boundary Group) issues yet my logs (ClientLocation and and LocationServices) seemed to be saying all was well. Clearly something was wrong. It was late, I was stressed and worried. Then after many 'wrong links' I finally landed on the Oracle's page. He that shall be known as Jason Sandys. In one of his posts he talks about the Evil of Subnet IDs. In short the issues described in the post are exactly the issues I am facing: VLSM and thus overlapping boundaries.

So, without further ado, head on over to this post and drink your fill.

If you are suffering from strangeness with the client and resetting, re-installing or other fixes aren't working then you may well be in the same boat.

http://blog.configmgrftw.com/ip-subnet-boundaries-are-evil/

OSD to VirtualBox using SCCM 2012 SP1 R2

Recently, when trying to test my Task Sequence I received this error once WinPE had completed it's initial pass:

The issue can be easily resolved by running the following command:

VBoxManage setextradata [vmname] VBoxInternal/CPUM/CMPXCHG16B 1

You can get your VM names by typing VBoxManage list vms

Beware Cut and Paste - 0x800700a1 during Task Sequence WMI Query

Before I go on, this was ALL my own fault. There said it. Honesty being the best policy and all that. I say this because I must confess; confess because I feel like a numpty.

So, what happened..?

I was putting together a Task Sequence to deploy Win 7 x64 SP1 to my Oracle VirtualBox test machine. I do this because it's quicker than walking over to the build desk, unboxing a Dell and plugging it all in. It's all of 5 metres #lazysysadmin. But anyway, serves my lazy backside right. 

Where was I? Oh, yes. Task Sequence:

1) Boot into WinPE
2) Query WMI for Model 'VirtualBox' and if True, then Partition and Format Disk 
3) Proceed with Task Sequen.. oh, wait ...fail step 2 with 0x800700a1(The task sequence execution engine failed evaluating the condition for an action)

I went through my step 2 Task Sequence. It was correct, damned you! I swear. I checked it over. Look!

Even when I ran a wbemtest query from within WinPE, it returned the correct value. Look! See?

And I even checked SMSTS.LOG. Look! See? SEE?!

 Oh. 

Yours truly had copy-pasted from my notes and instead of straight speech marks (" ") I had put some sixty-six speech marks (“ “) in my WMI query. 

What a numpty.

Kernel Mode Drive Framework / Dell's SCCM driver CABs

In a bid to slipstream the 160-odd updates into my existing Config Manager WIM files since Windows 7 x64 SP1 was released, I followed these instructions:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/b9beedf4-337b-4ba3-90ab-7b8910404575/action?threadDisplayName=windows&forum=w7itproinstall

However, upon doing this I <ahem> "broke*" my deployments. I would get a whole load of Task Sequence errors, with one in particular pointing me to a boot-critical driver installation issue. So, I hopped over to Dell's Config Manager site and duly downloaded the A04 Client Driver Pack for the system in question (OptiPlex 9020). However, upon applying this driver, I further <ahem> "broke" my deployments. 

After a bit of research I found the following. Apparently, the Kernel Mode Driver Framework has been upgraded to 1.11 and you need to integrate this into the WIM image file before you can proceed with your Apply Driver Task Sequence step. 

Without further ado, here's the post!

http://deploymentramblings.wordpress.com/2013/10/24/osd-injecting-the-windows-7-kernel-mode-driver-framework-kmdf/

*broke is a rather strong word. I prefer 'Temporarily disabled'

Config Manager 2007: Dell XPS 8700 - OSD

Recently, I was asked to put a 'quick build' together of a Dell XPS 8700 Desktop PC. For me a quick build is often nothing of the sort, instead taking hours of build, re-build and test with plenty of driver applying thrown in for good measure.

Given the deadline nature of the request (why is it always urgent?) I opted for a capture of a fully Windows-Updated, no other applications, vanilla Windows 7 x64 SP1 machine. This snazzy piece of kit had an mSATA drive, so I wanted to use that as the OS disk. Obv.

The initial capture was simple enough, but when it came to deploying the image I started to see a problem. In short, even though I was formatting the disks (there are two; 256gb mSATA and 3gb SATA) in the Task Sequence I was constantly coming up against an teeth-gnashingly annoying 0x80070032 (or sometimes 0x80004001) error when trying to apply my WIM file.

OSD Homepage gave me the infuriating error:

System partition not set Volume C:\ is not on the boot disk and can not be made bootable. Failed to make volume C:\ bootable. Please ensure that you have set an active partition on the boot disk before installing the operating system. The request is not supported. (Error: 80070032; Source: Windows)

"But my Task Sequence has everything it needs!", I screamed. Just look:

Format the 256gb mSATA SSD as C (0, MBR)

...and mark it as bootable

Format the 3gb SATA HDD (1, GPT)

...and do nothing unusual

Next, apply the WIM file to the next available partition

However, EVERY time I built the desktop...BOOM!

This was infuriating. I tried swapping the disks, removing one, unplugging the card reader module and - even - Googling! And, of course, Mr. G was my friend. Whilst it didn't say exactly what to do, I did stumble upon this nugget and also this one and in particular: 

This got me thinking, perhaps the BIOS settings are interfering with the next available drive and overriding Config Manager's own osddiskpart process.

So, I booted into the BIOS settings and checked the settings under Hard Disk Drivers (not sure if that's a typo...). 

I noticed the 1st Boot Device was set as the 3tb HDD and not the mSATA, so I changed the 1st and the 2nd around, so to make the mSATA disk the primary boot disk. 

And what do you know? Format, partition, boot-activation and WIM file deployed without any problems. 

One thing to note, mSATA formatted as C: but the HDD as I: due to all the ODD and card-reader devices. This doesn't matter since when you apply a WIM file the original captured drives are re-allocated upon first boot after the build.

Ironmen and other related thoughts

The thumping bass-line pumping from the speakers begins to quicken like the huge heartbeat of this neoprene beast I see before me... This was the start of Ironman Nice and I was there to watch it.

I recently had the pleasure of visiting Nice to watch friends take part in an Ironman. Aside from the fact that all of them on the whole were completely insane, it was hugely impressive to witness. Completing a 3.8 km sea-swim, 180 km bike ride and 42.2 km marathon in 31 degree heat does sound ludicrous, but there can be no doubt that those who completed it, in whatever time, did so after conquering some very dark places. I found myself wondering what drove these mad men and women to explore the recesses of their souls and push themselves beyond all imaginable limits. True, many of them set out from the start point not knowing just what kind of journey they had begun but even fewer could have imagined just where they would end up.

Prior to the start I was impressed by the athleticsm on display from the competitors. Almost all of the participants had the honed look of highly trained indivuals; their streamlined wetsuited bodies cutting notable silhouettes against the low morning sun. Months of preparation and training had brought these incredible people to the point of physical excellence and, in less than half an hour, these machines would be embark on the most grueling experience of their lives. As each racer zipped up their wetsuit, donned their hat and goggles the nervous excitement grew. Grins were replaced with grimaces. Banter dried up. Thoughts were collected. The gravity of the moment dawning fully upon everyone; not just competitors either. Friends and family found it difficult to find the right words to offer - now was not the time for vacuous offerings of 'you can do it' or 'give it your best'.

Finally, the race was upon them and en mass they moved to the start. Each member of this creature began to jostle for position, anxious to get a good start and not falter at the first. Suddenly, it was on. The siren sounded and some two thousand people began to enter the sea. You could hear the splashes from several hundred metres away; the air laced with salt as the animal thrashed its way forward, anxious to get into clear water. Arm clocked rythmically over arm, feet churning water white as arduous progress was made. Some sought to race ahead only to be held back by others who had the same idea only a few seconds sooner. Others chose to move laterally, finding clearer water to work through. And those in the middle of this maelstrom? Well, they were pulled along by the surging current, unable to distance themselves from their neighbours. At last all were in the water, the collosal length of this brute now fully apparent. Onwards it pushed, now beginning to thin slightly as it turned passed marker buoys. After the first lap it became easier to make out individuals, particularly those at the front and, sadly, those at the back. It was evident some had found this stage difficult, their arms beating the water with less frequency now, kicks barely breaking the water's surface. However, on they swam, this was no time to stop. As the tsunami of swimmers began their final return, shouts peppered the air as supporters re-found their voices. Slowly but surely men and women emerged from the water, and then disappeared behind crowds as they pressed on to the secoond stage of the race: the bike... 

ASRock ION 330 HT: XBMC & Infrared Problems

I recently re-installed my XBMCLive ASRock ION 330 HT media centre. Most things were pretty straight-forward such as:


AirPlayer
Samba
Sabnzb
BBC iPlayer (from the Hitcher's repo)


However, the final part (the remote) was really getting to me. I just could not get it working. Luckily, I found a complete walk through, which worked perfectly: http://doityourselfhtpc.com/2010/12/22/asrock-ion-330-ht-remote-and-xbmc-live/


And that's it. Just don't forget to REBOOT!

Spidey Rebooted

These caught my attention.

AirPlay on XBMC

Being an XBMC enthusiast I'm always on the look out for useful and interesting XBMC-related news. Here's something that caught my attention: AirPlay on XBMC! Can it be done? Yes, it can!

Pascal Widdershover is one of the men to do just this. of the project can be found here, and a slimline Ubuntu walk-thru here

There are still some improvements and bugs to fix, but it's a start and it looks pretty good!

**UPDATE** Installed this successfully on my XBMC and it works like a charm. Getting closer to Minority Report every day..

Sophos Anti-virus

Currently trialling Sophos Endpoint Protection and I've come across a (slightly) random issue relating to OSX and updates. It seems that occasionally a Mac will stop being able to download Sophos updates either by http or smb:

Tailing the Sophos Anti-Virus.log I see

mymac:~ admin$ tail -f /Library/Logs/Sophos\ Anti-Virus.log

com.sophos.autoupdate:

com.sophos.autoupdate: Error: Could not contact secondary file server smb://VH-SEC1/SophosUpdate/CIDs/S000/ESCOSX at 10:52 on 21 April 2011

com.sophos.autoupdate: Server could not be found

This isn't very helpful and the server-side IIS logs don't reveal much else other than:

2011-04-21 13:21:30 172.16.100.202 GET / - 80 sophosupdatemgr@[REMOVED]

192.168.2.220 Mozilla/5.0+(Macintosh;+U;+Intel+Mac+OS+X+10_6_7;+en- S)+AppleWebKit/534.16+(KHTML,+like+Gecko)+Chrome/10.0.648.205+Safari/534.16 403 14 0 31

and

2011-04-21 13:21:30 172.16.100.202 GET /favicon.ico - 80 sophosupdatemgr@[REMOVED] 192.168.2.220 Mozilla/5.0+(Macintosh;+U;+Intel+Mac+OS+X+10_6_7;+en-US)+AppleWebKit/534.16+(KHTML,+like+Gecko)+Chrome/10.0.648.205+Safari/534.16 404 0 2 0

If I enable Directory Browsing on my SEC server, then after logging in I can view the files, so I know everything is ok. So what could it be..? My Windows machines are ok. I could resolve the hostname from the Macs in question and I can ping it, plus I can even mount the share. As a last gasp, I decided to add a new share to the existing one on the SEC server:

Next, I..er..updated the Update policy to use the new location:

Finally, I ran an update from the SEC console for the troublesome Mac and BOOM:

com.sophos.intercheck: Sophos Anti-Virus

com.sophos.intercheck: Version 4.64, 04 April 2011

com.sophos.intercheck: Includes detection for 2466461 viruses, trojans and worms

com.sophos.intercheck: Copyright © 1989-2010 Sophos Group. All rights reserved.

com.sophos.intercheck:

com.sophos.intercheck: Using IDE files:

com.sophos.intercheck:

com.sophos.intercheck: expiro-h.ide

com.sophos.intercheck: ifram-gl.ide

com.sophos.intercheck: javabz-p.ide

com.sophos.intercheck: dwnl-ivv.ide

com.sophos.intercheck: pws-bqb.ide

com.sophos.intercheck: looke-eq.ide

com.sophos.intercheck: wiper-b.ide

com.sophos.intercheck: auto-bol.ide

com.sophos.intercheck: regin-a.ide

com.sophos.intercheck: agen-qqs.ide

com.sophos.intercheck: agen-qqu.ide

Ok, so it's new leaf for me..

Blimey.

The last post I wrote here was in, like, 2006. That was a long time ago. Before Peter Andre and Katie Price has their fumble in the jungle; before Apple released the iPhone; and before I..er.. had a blog, which I never updated. So, here we go. I'm changing this track. We're going Pro (TM) 2000 ULTRA-MAXXX.

or something.

Singing Horses and I'm in a quandry

Hmm.

Yes that's "hmm".

Hmm, because I am intrigued; There seem to be a few posts on my site (either from just one person who has a multiple personality disorder thingy - only on the Interweb - or that the banshee-like wail has gone out and bloggers are rallying to a cause.

I'm curious now. And because I am curious I find myself replying to the ether - wondering at what point the people reading this will actually realise that my blogging life is so pitifully dull and minute that they would rather listen to these singing horses. Now THAT'S what the internet is for. Actually, as wierd as the singing horses are it kind of shows where I'm coming from: The internet is useful for the obvious (shopping and porn) but what about the things that people just make up and think others will be interested in? Obviously, the creation of singing horses does somewhat stretch the boundaries but that doesn't mean that it's not fun for somebody else. What a great creation the Internet is - there's something for everyone. So, why can't blogging be part of that? Good question... and something I'm trying to figure out.

Blogging: Is it just Narcissistic?

I had an interesting conversation with a fellow blogger the other evening. I tried to ascertain whether Blogging is just a blatant form or Narcissism or whether it actually serves a purpose.

I am of the opinion that they are a pointless addition to the internet. So, why are you writing in a Blog, then? I hear you cry... [actually, why would I *think* that you are interesting in this, unless I thought that you would read this and therefore I have just displayed the very Narcissitic attibuted which I hate so much?] Well, the reason is because I feel I should at least try to see what all the fuss is about. Whether anyone reads this, or finds it interesting {[actually - again - maybe it's because I have nothing interesting to say on here, which means that I'm jealous of those who are more exciting.] So, I'm trying; very trying, in fact.

But here's the crack. I just can't think of anything to write.

Why the hell would you want to hear about something that isn't very interesting, from someone you don't know (and never will), when there are infinitely more interesting things going on outside your front door.

My view is that the web is great for photos, say. Or tickets. Or timetables. Or photos of tickets and timetables. But as a brain-dump of information from a complete stranger? Well, what's the point. There's nothing I don't say to people that I write on here. It's nothing that can't be said than can't be sung is one way to put it...

Anyway, I'm bored now of this - amazing, I even bore myself doing this.

Perhaps I'm wrong and I 'just don't get it'. I don't think the other bloggers who update their sites are wrong or stupid for that matter, but unless you have something of use to someone else, what's the point?

Glasses

So, yesterday I collected my new glasses. According to the Optometrist I have to wear them for 'critical use'. Apparently, critical use includes such things as driving, using computers and... watching TV.

Critical.

Anyways, I don't feel hugely comfortable with them at the moment, but I have been assured by fellow speccies that it will take some getting used to.

Wolf balls

Amazing! This thing has got huge balls. What are the chances of coming across a wolf dancing with his genitalia out?

Dreary

Today I continue with my projects. Interestingly, I am also now running a software audit, which really makes for an exciting day. We're implementing password changes throughout the company and it all seems to be running smoothly. Pity I can't speed it up because it's mind-numbing.

Hopefully, Luce and I will be out tonight to see either Jarhead or Memoirs of a Geisha girl - polar opposites (the films; not Lucy and I); one is my choice the other is not.

Don't you hate lunch times? You go to the same places (of which there are only about 5), buy the same food and eat it at your desk. Sometimes I try to spice it up, you know rock it and shock it, by eating after 2pm. That really is fun. Food in London is attrociously expensive and I dread to think how much I have spent on meals since my time here. Thousands no doubt. Maybe even hundreds of thousands. But maybe not. Everyone rushes out to get food and then sits in silence, I don't quite know what would make a difference... perhaps a bouncy castle in one of the many squares or even donkey rides. That would be exciting.

What the fuck...

My first post.

This is my first blog. Because I want to be like everyone else.