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

Setting up to Print from Mac OS X Snow Leopard to a Windows 8 Shared Printer

Whoever says that Mac computers are easy to use are not entirely right! When it comes to troubleshooting a Mac, it is the most painful experience ever. So I needed to configure to print from my MacBook to a Shared Printer that is connected to my newly formatted Windows 8 machine. I am using a HP LaserJet 3015 Printer connected to my Windows 8 machine via USB.

After searching the Internet for awhile, which basically tells you that finding resources for Mac troubleshooting is NOT EASY.. cause there aren't many out there.

I was able to stumble upon a blog post that did what I wanted but for the Windows 7. I figured I would try it and see if it will work since the kernel is somewhat similar.

Tried and worked. Here is the steps I did that followed exactly the blog post here

Windows 8 PC. The place that your shared printer is connected to.

1. From the Windows 8 Desktop, move your mouse to the bottom right corner, which will bring up the hidden panel.
2. Click on Settings, then Click on Control Panel
3. Launch the "Devices and Printers" app
4. Right Click your shared printer and select "Printer Properties"
5. Select the Sharing tab and share your printer with a share name WITHOUT ANY SPACES
6. Click on the Back button to go back to the Control Panel Home screen
7. Select "Programs and Features"
8. Click "Turn Windows Features on or off" {its on the left side of the windows}
9. Expand "Print and Document Services", then select and enable the "LPD Print Service"
10. Click OK and it should start adding the feature in.

Mac OS X. The place you want to print from.

1. Open "System Preferences" then select "Print & Fax"
2. Click "+" to add a printer
3. Right click anywhere on the tool bar and select "Customize Toolbar" then drag the "Advanced" button to the toolbar
4. Select "Advanced"
5. In the "Type:" field select "LPD/LPR Host or Printer"
6. In the "URL:" field enter lpd://Windows8IPAddress/PrinterShareName; (e.g., lpd://192.168.1.99/HPF4280) Make sure there are no spaces in your printer's share name. Using lpd://Windows8PCName/PrinterShareName does not work, the IP address must replace Windows7ServerName The IP address is the address of your PC, the one assigned by your router. If you need to find out your IP address, go back to your Windows 8 machine, launch Command Prompt, and type in 'ipconfig' in the command prompt window. Hit Enter and it should display your ip address for you.
7. "Print Using" drop-down list: I was able to select my printer's software from the driver list and it worked (HP Laserjet3015). 
8. Click the "Add" button
9. Do a Test Print and it should print ok.

Hope this helps someone. Thanks again Justin for his blogpost

Best of MMS Malaysia

For the first time in Malaysia, Microsoft is bringing Best of MMS to these shores. Best of MMS is an event that is run after the main show, which is the Microsoft Management Summit (Las Vegas). The goal of these events is to bring some key sessions to areas, countries and people that were not able to attend MMS.

Best of MMS Malaysia will be held on:

Date: June 5th

Venue: Microsoft Auditorium, Petronas Tower 2, KLCC, L29, Kuala Lumpur

Registration Link: https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032511973&Culture=en-MY

The following are the session that will be presented at this event:

• Welcome, Best of MMS 2012 Keynote by Eric Liew, Server Lead, Microsoft Malaysia + Q&A
• Cloud Contest (2x Virtualization Stations)
• An Overview of Client Management and System Center 2012
• Datacenter Management with System Center 2012
• Application Management Capabilities with SCCM 2012
• Service Delivery and Automation
• Incident, Problem, Change and Asset Management with SCSM 2012
• Virtualization Management on Steroids
• Desktop and Mobile Management from the Cloud
• The New Generation of Microsoft Virtualization with Windows Server 2012
• Compliance and Patch Management with SCCM2012
• MS Cloud Certs & MVA (MS Virtual Academy)

Do register yourself for this event and join us for some good sessions delivered by industry professionals, MVPs, Microsoft technical specialists and get some gifts while you are there!

Supported Network Devices Monitored by SCOM2012

As we are approaching the launch of SCOM 2012, it will come with the ability to monitor network devices. Question is.. what is the supported devices? In a nutshell, SCOM 2012 can monitor network devices that support SNMP, and can provide port monitoring for devices that implement interface MIB (RFC 2863) and MIB-II (RFC 1213) standards

The list of supported network devices can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=26831 

This list may change upon the General Availability of SCOM 2012.

Next Question is how about devices which do not meet the RFC MIB requirements? well it simply means that by default SCOM will not auto monitor the port monitoring for those devices. This can be overcome by creating custom monitors via the SCOM console