The University has applied and been accepted to the CEP (Community Evaluation Program) for the next version of ConfigMgr. This is a great oppurtunity for us to get into the next version of the product in our test environment to prepare for it's release next year to leverage it in production as soon as possible.
Please view the following powerpoint presentation for an overview of v.Next.
Newly updated information for AD naming conventions: length, allowed/disallowed characters, etc.
If you subscribe to TechNet at full price, you'll want to check the above post out.
Good read from TechRepublic on using Group Policy to change the local administrator password
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/datacenter/?p=3185
Excerpt on what Dell OMCI (OpenManage Client Instrumentation) does.
"Provides detailed asset information, BIOS Settings, and reporting of potential or current hardware or physical security problems with the system. All of this information is provided via CIM (WMI) so that OMCI does not require a local interface. Consoles such as ConfigMgr (Microsoft's System Center Configuration Manager) can easily retrieve the information exposed by OMCI."
Here's the link to the update:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982018
More information on Advanced Format disks:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2010/04/01/the-facts-4k-advanced-format-hard-disks/1
Starting after the CM meeting tomorrow, see https://wiki.umn.edu/view/UMNSPD, we'll be accepting nominations for targeted production Software Update Management through ConfigMgr. Please note that nominating your area does not necessarily mean you will be accepted into the targeted production phase or that you will be accepted before the first patch cycle. The field will likely be expanded after receiving feedback from the first patch cycle, so you may be invited prior to the second or third patch cycle.
What is Software Update Management through ConfigMgr?
What basically happens is ConfigMgr manages WSUS so the deploying and reporting of software updates, holistic management, can be handled through the ConfigMgr console. To find out more go to:
http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/en/us/configuration-manager/cm-software-update-management.aspx
What will be discussed about software updates management at the CM meeting?
We'll go through a quick overview of SUM (Software Updates Management) in ConfigMgr and how it will be delivered during the targeted production phase at the University of Minnesota.
How do I nominate my college/department/unit for the targeted production release of SUM through ConfigMgr?
To nominate post a comment on this post with the following information:
· Number of computers that will used in the targeted production
· List of operating systems that will be used in the targeted production
o OS class
o Bit level
· List of applications supported
o This is so we get a large set of different applications that will receive Windows updates in case there are conflicts (i.e. a Windows update breaks an app)
By posting you agree to the following requirements of the targeted production phase:
· Willing to participate during the entire targeted production phase
o Three standard patch cycles
§ Effectively 3 months
· Willing to share experiences with and assist fellow admins in targeted production during the targeted production phase
· Provide feedback to UMNAD during the target production phase
· Willing to share experiences with the rest of the community after that targeted production phase is complete
What will my college/department/unit receive during targeted production?
· Support from UMNAD through already established channels
· Documentation on how SUM will be managed and it's structure
· Support of other admins involved in the targeted production phase
If you have any questions or comments about the project make sure to bring them to the CM meeting tomorrow. After the meeting, feel free to comment or ask questions on this post.
You have a computer that is running Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2. Occasionally, the computer crashes after it runs for some time. Additionally, you receive a Stop error message on a blue screen. The Stop error message resembles the following:
Notes
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/979444
Some of you may be experiencing the above issue so I thought I'd post some information on it. Rumor has it the hotfix will be included in SP1, so if you're not experiencing this exact issue it won't hurt you to not apply it.
Looks like blogging fever has hit another member of our team! Jaysen, has just launched his blog on desktop virtualization.
Check it out:
What is VDI?
VDI stands for Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
Here's a good definition from Citrix on what VDI is:
"VDI or Virtual Desktop Infrastructure refers to the process of running a user desktop inside a virtual machine that lives on a server in the datacenter."
http://www.citrix.com/virtualization/vdi.html
What the U is doing with VDI
There's been a lot of buzz about desktop virtualization in Higher Education and how it can be leveraged in such an institution as the University of Minnesota. Some of you may have heard me or other virtualization committee members talk about our pilot done in partnership between CFANS and OIT. In August the committee submitted its findings to the senior management team in OIT the team was encouraged to hear that the SMT would like to move forward with VDI for a targeted audience for the initial implementation. Later in the month we had another meeting to provide more direction on the project and to start looking at a timeframe. From that meeting we are putting together a project plan with require resources to for the targeted implementation and exactly what groups will be targeted. The plan is due to the SMT by the middle of October.
Look for more posts on the project about what we're doing and how it's going as we move forward.
Also, I'm interested in what other business reasons are out there for VDI. If you have one you'd like to share, post it in the comments below.
As more and more units are using ConfigMgr for OSD I wanted to raise the awareness of the benefits of using a low privilege account that has just enough rights to do what it needs in AD during the Task Sequence. The following blog show how to give rights to an account to create the object and bind it to AD and a good reason why.
If you precreate your objects you won't have to give it create or delete.
http://blog.coretech.dk/osdeploy/creating-a-joindomain-account-for-use-with-sccm-osd/
I just found out today that the job posted for an Active Directory Enterprise Administrator on our team!
This is very good news, this will keep our team members number up after losing one to the realty profession late this summer.
For those of you interested in applying, please see the following link:
https://employment.umn.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/position/JobDetails_css.jsp?postingId=440117
If the link doesn't work for you the Requisition Number is 168200 and you can search that number on the job search site:
https://employment.umn.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/search/Search_css.jsp
I hope to get a lot of internal applicants for this position!
