Michael Phillips Blog » Beta

Error installing DPM 2010 Beta

Michael — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:04:32 +0000

I was installing the DPM 2010 Beta (finally) and had an issue trying to get the SQL 2008 to install. Finally figured out that I had the install files stored too deeply in a network share. I figure this out by running the SQL install directly and when it when to check prereq’s it had an error on one section and when you click for more info this is what you get:

Rule "Long path names to files on SQL Server installation media" failed.

SQL Server installation media on a network share or in a custom folder can cause installation failure if the total length of the path exceeds 260 characters. To correct this issue, utilize Net Use functionality or shorten the path name to the SQL Server setup.exe file.

So, I moved it to a shorter path and it installed just fine.

Data Protection Manager 2010

Michael — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 20:51:36 +0000

So I am a bit late realizing this, but the Beta for DPM 2010 is available now on the Connect site. I haven’t read anything on it yet, so mainly I am just posting this to make myself look into it.

https://connect.microsoft.com/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?SiteID=840&DownloadID=22070

Hyper-V certificate expiration and resolution

Michael — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 23:35:53 +0000

If you see this:

‘VMName’ failed to initialize.
Could not initialize machine remoting system. Error: ‘Unspecified error’ (0×80004005).
Could not find a usable certificate. Error: ‘Unspecified error’ (0×80004005).

Then this could be your answer:

Symptoms and resolution:

§ You may be unable to start or connect to virtual machines running on Windows Server 2008 or Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008. This occurs when connecting using vmconnect. Connections made using remote desktop won’t be affected.

§ KB Article 967902 has been created that details the symptoms and resolution. This KB article provides a direct link to download the quickfix to resolve this error.

Important Notes:

§ Though this error may occur, the Hyper-V service will continue to operate. Neither the Hyper-V host nor the running virtual machines will go offline.

§ It is not expected that this issue can be exploited for malicious purposes.

§ Customers running Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V beta won’t experience this error.

That last line it my favorite…

I guess we should be running the beta in production… and what’s with the ‘Unspecified error’?

Windows Server Division WebLog : Hyper-V certificate expiration and resolution

New Features in System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2

Michael — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 03:20:49 +0000

Of the new features coming in the R2 versions of Windows Server 2008 and SCVMM, I think these two are the obvious winners:

Support for Live Migration: With Windows 2008 R2 adding support for Live migration, it’s now added as a new migration option in VMM R2. Live migration requires the source and destination host to be part of a failover cluster and that the VM is on a shared storage. Live migration means that there is no user perceived downtime; since the VM’s memory pages are being transferred, the hosts’ processors need to be the same (manufacturer and processor architecture). Our competition claims that Vmotion doesn’t require clustering but this only works for planned downtime and not for unplanned downtime. By combining Live migration and clustering, Hyper-V addresses both planned and unplanned downtime.

Multiple VMs per LUN: VMM 2008 didn’t allow placing multiple VMs per LUN even though Hyper-V allowed it and the reason was that the LUN ownership was on a per host basis. This meant that migrating any VM on that shared LUN would result in all other VMs being migrated as well which can result in a confusing user experience (I’ve blogged about this at length). With CSV (Clustered Shared Volumes) in Windows 2008 R2, a single LUN is accessible by all hosts within a cluster. This enables a VM that’s on a shared LUN to be migrated without affecting other VMs on that LUN. As a result, with VMM R2, we’ll allow multiple VMs to be placed on the same LUN if CSV is enabled on the cluster.

http://blogs.technet.com/rakeshm/archive/2009/03/16/scvmm-2008-r2-beta-is-available-now.aspx

That is from the beta release announcement for SCVMM. I have downloaded the beta, but haven’t had time lately to get it setup. I am hoping to work on that this coming week…

System Center Service Manager

Michael — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:17:40 +0000

When I first heard that Microsoft was going to release a “Service Desk” product, I was actually kind of excited. I heard about it at MMS in 2006 (I think) and the things that they were planning for their Service Desk product sounded really useful and even a bit forward thinking. Evidently, what they intended and what they built, wasn’t even close to what the customers wanted, because they scrapped it and started over completely.

Now they are once again trying to get feedback on a Beta version of System Center Service Manager. We aren’t participating in the Beta this time (too much other stuff going on) so I haven’t kept up with what is happening, but here is a reply to a question someone had about the Service Manager Roadmap:

Thanks very much for your interest in Service Manager – this is great feedback for our team. We will be adding many features into Beta 2, including OpsMgr integration, Service Maps, Reporting, Self-Service Portal, Knowledge Management, and Problem Management. We are making infrastruture improvements that will enhance scalability and performance. We are making usability improvements that will provide a better overall user experience. We are also going to be providing a tool that will enable form customization, object model extensions, and IT process workflow authoring.
I’ll try to answer some of your other questions below.
1. We don’t have plans today for a SCE connector.
2. We don’t have plans to have built-in integration with DPM – I would love to hear more details on how you think Service Manager could add value. A step-by-step example would be most helpful
3. We don’t have plans to directly control task execution in OpsMgr using Change Management workflows, although I believe the underlying Service Manager platform would support many scenarios. We do have plans to launch the OpsMgr web console from the Service Manager console (on the same machine) — then you can run these tasks from the OpsMgr web console.
4. We are not going to have the ability to prevent changes from being applied using the Service Manager change management feature, however we are evaluating functionality to incorporate change windows at a future date.

Service Manager roadmap : Service Manager – General : System Center Service Manager : Microsoft TechNet Forums