Free Exam Voucher for Microsoft Virtualization Specialist Certification Exam 70-409

Sign up for the Microsoft Virtual Academy course: Server Virtualization w/ Windows Server Hyper-V & System Center Jump Start here AND once you've completed it, you get a voucher code for a free exam - 70-409: Microsoft Virtualization Specialist Certification Exam

Asus UX31A: Unable to pass BIOS screen on reboot after BIOS flash upgrade

I updated the BIOS to the latest version using WinFlash utility provided by Asus on my UX31A Touch notebook. I went from BIOS v218 to v219. The WinFlash utility stated my upgrade was successful and proceeded to ask me to reboot... which I did.

After reboot, the notebook immediately went into the BIOS config screen. I immediately tried to 'Quit and Exit'... and the notebook rebooted... and it went back to the BIOS screen. I tried doing 'Save Configuration and Exit'... same thing... rebooted into BIOS screen. No matter what I did... it wont go pass the BIOS screen.

oh crap...

Played around with the BIOS settings to try and figure out what was going on... To cut the long story short, I did the following...

• In Boot Menu --> Change FastStart to [Disable]
• In Security Menu --> Change Secure Boot to [Disable]
• .. then 'Save Configuration & Exit'
• When the BIOS screen appears again, go to the Boot Menu again --> Change Launch CSM to [Enable]

After doing the above... my PC booted into Windows 8.1 fine...

PHEW!!!!.....

Speaking at TechEd North America and TechEd Europe! 2013

My session "Key Metrics and Practices for Monitoring Virtualization Platforms" is approved for both TechEd North America and TechEd Europe 2013! sweet! Time to get cracking on the presso!

If you are going to be at Tech Ed, and would like to hear something specific during this session, do drop me a note! and I will do my best to put it in. Any ideas on the session is welcomed!

See you in June!

Channel 9 Interview at MMS2013

Had an interview with Rick Claus for Channel 9 during MMS2013. Spoke about my session on Benefits and reasons to Upgrade to Active Directory 2012.

http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/MMS227

MMS2013 - Benefits and Reasons to Upgrade to Active Directory 2012

MMS2013 this year was a little bit more special as it was the first time I got accepted to speak! After trying for the last 4 years...

My session was done with Adam Hall and we got pretty good comments on our session so I was happy that we managed to help some people from our content.

Here is a link to the recording of our session: http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/MMS/2013/AI-B301

Red Hat 5.9 includes Hyper-V drivers

Just reading around articles and noticed that Red Hat 5.9 that was launched has also been certified and includes drivers for Hyper-V platforms. This is pretty good news for customers running Red Hat as their primary distro running on Hyper-V.

http://www.redhat.com/about/news/press-archive/2013/1/red-hat-announces-general-availability-of-red-hat-enterprise-linux-5-9

MMS 2013 Session Approved!

The Microsoft Management Summit is my annual pilgrimage where I go to hopefully learn more about System Center than the year before. I normally take the chance to catch up with good friends from all over the world. This year I will be speaking! Here is my session.

http://www.2013mms.com/topic/details/AI-B301

Please come by and listen to us and drop by and say Hi :)

Hyper-V 2012 known issues

Here are 2 known issues as advised by the Microsoft Product Group. I have not encountered it yet, but hope it helps someone that has...

• Virtual machine enters a paused state or a CSV volume goes offline when you try to create a backup of he virtual machine on a Windows Server 2012-based failover cluster. A hotfix is available for this condition at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2799728
  
• Managing Hyper-V hosts using Virtual Machine Manager fails after installing WMF 3.0 (KB 2795043). The hotfix for this specific condition is documented in KB 2781512, available at the following location: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2781512

System Center Universe APAC 2013!

The second installment of System Center Universe Asia Pacific is confirmed for January 31, 2013! SCU will be a global event starting from APAC, hosted and broadcasted LIVE from Singapore. After which, sessions will start in Irving, Texas, USA!

Join us in Singapore, or watch it LIVE.

I will be speaking on the topic of "Service Pack 1 is HERE!, What's in it for me??"

Check out details at www.systemcenteruniverse.asia to attend or listen in on the live broadcast.

Also check out www.systemcenteruniverse.com for the US event! sessions will also be broadcasted LIVE, so you can join in.

Hope to see you there!

SCCM Service Pack 1 Client Fails to Install - Error 0x800b0101

I recently encountered a failure in installing an agent when I had already upgraded my SCCM 2012 server with Service Pack 1. I had no problems installing agents before this. Looking at the CCMSETUP.LOG file using the Trace utility, I noticed this line being highlighted:

Couldn't verify 'C:\WINDOWS\ccmsetup\MicrosoftPolicyPlatformSetup.msi' authenticode signature. Return code 0x800b0101

Searching on the net, I found that this was a known issue and a patch available at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2801987

After applying the patch, the SCCM Agent deployment was successful.

Failover Cluter Manager FAILS after applying kb2750149

This is a known issue and has been verified by the Microsoft Product Group.

If you applied KB 2750149 in a Windows Server 2012 Clustered server, you may find that Failover Cluster Manager will FAIL to load and no longer usable. The error that you will see is..

“A weak event was created and it lives on the wrong object, there is a very high chance that this will fail, please review and make changes on your code to prevent this issue"

At this point of time, the only resolution is as follows:

• Uninstall the KB patch (best method)
• Manage the cluster with a remote Failover Cluster Manager console or SCVMM (some customers have reported that this patch also affects management using SCVMM)
• Manage using Powershell