FEP 2010 install Troubleshooting steps

If during the process of moving your environment to FEP 2010, and you should happen to see FEP install failures with an error message of (FEP failed using Package ISV data to calculate precedence from CCM_ISV_SoftwarePolicy. It is required for applying policy. Error: Timeout after waiting 600000ms.) There are a couple of possible fixes from Microsoft suggestions –

1. Wait for CCM client to complete / report to SCCM before pushing software to the system.

2. Attempt to rerun the deployment once you have confirmed the above item.

o Test / review to see if FEP client installed correctly, if not continue

3. Start Powershell on the client by opening Command Prompt and typing Powershell

Run the following Powershell WMI query to check if the CCM_ISV_SoftwarePolicy class exists in WMI:

get-wmiobject -namespace “root/ccm/policy/machine” -class CCM_ISV_SoftwarePolicy

This resulted in the following error:

Get-WmiObject : Invalid class

At line:1 char:14

+ get-wmiobject <<<< -namespace “root/ccm/policy/machine” -class CCM_ISV_SoftwarePolicy

CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [Get-WmiObject], ManagementException

+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : GetWMIManagementException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetWmiObjectCommand

Attempts to manually compile the CCM_ISV.MOF file located in the ConfigMgr Client’s cache folder C:\Windows\System32\CCM\Cache\<Package ID> using the following command produced the error below because the mofcomp.exe could not be found:

mofcomp CCM_ISV.MOF

‘mofcomp’ is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file.

Run the SET PATH command from the command prompt to determine if the folder, C:\Windows\System32\Wbem, exists and if not add it to the PATH.After adding this path, the application of the FEP policies was successful.

4. Attempt to rerun the deployment once you have confirmed the above item.

o Test / review to see if FEP client installed correctly, if not continue

5. Uninstall the ConfigMgr client

Register MSXML Dlls: To re-register MSXML, click Start, click Run, type the following command, and then click OK:

Regsvr32 “C:\WINDOWS\system32\msxml3.dll”

Note This command assumes that you want to reregister MSXML 3.0 and that the .dll file is located in the C:\WINDOWS\system32\ folder.

Requested the customer to push the Client Agent again to these systems to re-install it and then to rerun the FEP2010 advertisement.

Re-register the client’s Scripting Libraries: Use the Fix-It from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949140 (which you did in the past) or perform the registration manualy:

To manually register the scripting components on your computer, use one of the following sets of steps, as appropriate for your situation.

You are running a 32-bit version of the Windows operating system

1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.

2. Type regsvr32 %systemroot%\system32\vbscript.dll, and then press ENTER.

3. Type regsvr32 %systemroot%\system32\jscript.dll, and then press ENTER.

4. Type regsvr32 %systemroot%\system32\dispex.dll, and then press ENTER.

5. Type regsvr32 %systemroot%\system32\scrobj.dll, and then press ENTER.

6. Type regsvr32 %systemroot%\system32\scrrun.dll, and then press ENTER.

7. Type regsvr32 %systemroot%\system32\wshext.dll, and then press ENTER.

8. Type regsvr32 %systemroot%\system32\wshom.ocx, and then press ENTER.

You are running a 64-bit version of the Windows operating system, and you receive the error message that is mentioned in the “Symptoms” section while you are using the 64-bit scripting components

1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.

2. Type %systemroot%\system32\regsvr32 %systemroot%\system32\vbscript.dll, and then press ENTER.

3. Type %systemroot%\system32\regsvr32 %systemroot%\system32\jscript.dll, and then press ENTER.

4. Type %systemroot%\system32\regsvr32 %systemroot%\system32\dispex.dll, and then press ENTER.

5. Type %systemroot%\system32\regsvr32 %systemroot%\system32\scrobj.dll, and then press ENTER.

6. Type %systemroot%\system32\regsvr32 %systemroot%\system32\scrrun.dll, and then press ENTER.

7. Type %systemroot%\system32\regsvr32 %systemroot%\system32\wshext.dll, and then press ENTER.

8. Type %systemroot%\system32\regsvr32 %systemroot%\system32\wshom.ocx, and then press ENTER.

6. Re-install the CCMgr Client software

7. Push the Client Agent again to these clients

8. Re-run the FEP2010 advertisement.

o Test / review to see if FEP client installed correctly, if not continue

Sam Westfall, PEI

The Art and Science of Asking Questions is the Source of All Knowledge.

~Thomas Berger

With every blog I write, the process begins in a very similar way. I try to think of recent topics in the IT tech world, search for information on said topics online, then ask myself questions like “Will this be interesting” or “Do I know enough to write about this topic?” And those questions help me to shape a subject and a blog. Asking and answering questions before any task, whether it’s writing a blog or building a home, is extremely important. For instance, if you walk in to the GAP, and ask an associate to help you pick out a pair of pants, there are some questions that you might want to ask yourself before you just start pulling jeans off of the rack. What size are you? What fit are you looking for? Where are you planning to wear these pants? And you will continue to ask questions of yourself until you have narrowed down the selection to the perfect pair of pants. Now, if you had no idea what type of pants you wanted walking in to the GAP, that process might take a while. But if you know you are looking for a pair of boot cut jeans, the process becomes easier.

The same type of scenario goes in to planning your IT projects. If you walk in to a meeting with one of our Account Managers knowing you want to buy servers, but don’t know what you will use them for or specifically why you need new ones, that particular project will probably stop dead in the water until you have put together your own list of needs/wants for those servers. And while it will be the responsibility of the Account Managers and Engineers to become a trusted advisor, suggesting the right servers for your needs, it is good to ask a few specific questions of yourself before taking the next steps. Here are a few examples of great pre-project questions:

1. What are the high-level objectives of the project?

2. What are the estimated costs of the project — and the anticipated rewards?

3. Does the potential project align with the mission, vision, and values of the organization?

4. What are the risks associated with pursuing the project under consideration?

These questions help to answer the business value of your pursued project. And while this list is certainly not all encompassing, it’s a good start and will help keep the tasks at hand on track.

For more detail on those questions, see: http://www.itworld.com/it-managementstrategy/106373/project-management-4-questions-to-ask-before-starting-any-project

Erika Larson, PEI

Exciting System Center 2012 Features

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit Microsoft and see, first hand, some of what System Center 2012 has in store for us. For the first time, System Center components have been truly integrated, providing some unique and powerful automation capabilities.

What if Configuration Manager could automatically respond to, and remediate, an error or warning event detected by Operations Manager? What if a request for a software installation in Service Manager could be automatically carried through an approval process leading to the application being installed by Configuration Manager? What automatic virus infection remediation? Client data protection? System Center 2012 can do it all.

Still, there are a couple features that I’m really excited about, and I think warrant a little more attention.

First is Configuration Manager’s shift to a user-oriented architecture, which allows application installs to be targeted at users, not just computers. It also presents available applications based on who is searching, not which computer he or she is using. This change can really make an administrator’s life easier. We can focus on who needs access to things, rather than which device provides access (and who is in possession of that device). The new Configuration Manager bridges the gap between user and app, creating an easier administrative experience and a superior user experience.

The other feature is Operations Manager ability to monitor, natively, web apps (.NET and J2E, specifically). Operations Manager can not only inform you if your application is unavailable, it can also alert you to performance issues within the application itself. Additionally, the Operations Manager dashboard allows an administrator to delve from a physical host server, into a virtual machine, and then into web services and specific web sites and applications to identify problems within a single interface. Operations Manager can greatly simplify monitoring your systems and infrastructure and shorten time to resolution.

System Center 2012 offers many, many more capabilities as well. Hopefully, this has helped whet your appetite, as the official release is right around the corner!

Shane Skriletz, PEI

How to Backup Lync (Part 1)

A question that I am frequently asked after we get Lync installed and running is “How do we backup Lync?” This is a great question and one that is easy to answer. Thanks to the Central Management idea and Topology Builder, we only have to backup a few items in order to get the entire Lync environment backed up.

There are two crucial pieces for most environments. First is the topology itself and then secondly, we need the user’s data (Contacts, etc). To do the first piece, we use Export-CsConfiguration from the Lync Management Shell. An example:

Export-CsConfiguration -FileName MyTopologyBackup.zip

To backup the users data, we need to use the dbimpexp.exe tool. This tool is available in the root folder of the Lync Server installation media. It is also installed at \Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Lync Server 2010\Support as part of the Core Components. Here is an example of how to run the dbimpexp.exe command:

Dbimpexp.exe /hrxmlfile:<path and backup file name> /sqlserver:<SQL Server FQDN>\<instance name>

dbimpexp.exe /hrxmlfile:MyUserDataBackup.xml /sqlserver:mysqlserver.domain.com

With these two pieces you can get most of your Lync environment. In the next article I will detail how to backup other Lync components such as the Location Database, Group Chat and Response Group settings.

Adam Ball, PEI

Why won’t my XenApp server join the Farm?

You’ve decided that you need to add capacity to your Citrix XenApp 6.5 Farm. You’ve built the server, installed XenApp and have attempted to join your Farm, but it’s just not working: The XenApp server doesn’t behave like it’s part of a farm, and you see these errors in the System Event Log:

The servers farm data key does not match the farms current data key stored in the Data Store. IMA is shutting down.

And

Failed to load initial plugins with error IMA_RESULT_MAGIC_NUMBER_MISMATCH

Nothing went wrong during the install, what could be the problem?

In earlier versions, this could have been caused by corruption in the Farm’s database, but with XenApp 6.5 it’s important to remember the compatibility limitations. Citrix XenApp 6.5 Farms cannot support older versions of XenApp (including 6.0). These errors are your only indication of that version mismatch.

Try removing XenApp and installing version 6.5 or better to resolve this issue and join your existing Farm.

Shane Skriletz, PEI

Support Your Investments

More often than not, when presented with a quote for either hardware or software, there is a maintenance/support quote provided as well. Many people don’t understand why they need to pay additional for this or don’t know what exactly they get with each support contract they purchase. Because of that, I thought I would outline a very short list of the support we recommend with a few of the products we at PEI work with, and provide links to find out more.

1. HP CarePack: Hardware and software support, installation services, education services, and premium support options. An addition to the standard HP warranties. Here is what HP has to say about their CarePack services:

a. “Through HP Care Pack Services we get new systems and services up and running sooner. We help IT professionals use hardware and software effectively. We provide proactive support to help prevent system downtime. And when failures do occur, we provide the level of response you need to meet the needs of your business—whenever and wherever you need it.”

http://www8.hp.com/us/en/business-services/it-services.html?compURI=1077422

2. Microsoft Software Assurance: Provides many benefits in addition to Microsoft software. It also makes renewing/upgrading your Microsoft products easier. Here’s a brief description from Microsoft:

a. “With its distinctive set of benefits, the Microsoft Software Assurance program is truly unique. It offers new software versions, deployment planning services, 24×7 phone and Web support, end-user training, exclusive desktop technologies and more – all designed to help you get the most from your organization’s Volume Licensing purchases.”

b. “These benefits can vary by volume licensing program (such as an Enterprise Agreement or Open Value Agreement), and the number of qualifying licenses you have enrolled in Software Assurance. Use the resources and tools below to learn more about the Software Assurance benefits available to your organization.”

http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/software-assurance/check-your-benefits.aspx

3. Cisco SMARTnet: With multiple service levels (24×7, 8×5, software support) Cisco SMARTnet support helps you resolve critical network issues. Here’s Cisco’s take on their own product:

a. “Cisco SMARTnet Provides:

i. Global 24 hour access to Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC)

ii. Access to online knowledge base, communities and tools

iii. Hardware replacement options, including 2-hour, 4-hour, and next business day

iv. Operating system software updates

v. Smart, proactive diagnostics and real-time alerts on devices enabled with Smart Call Home”

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/svcs/ps3034/ps2827/ps2978/serv_group_home.html

Erika Larson, PEI

New CSAIL Research Could Help Secure the Cloud

Cloud computing has become completely ubiquitous, spawning hundreds of new web based services, platforms for building applications, and new types of businesses and companies. However, the freedom, fluidity and dynamic platform that cloud computing provides, also makes it particularly vulnerable to cyber-attacks. And because the cloud is a shared infrastructure, the consequences of such attacks can be extremely serious.

Now, with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), researchers from the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) aim to develop a new system that would help the cloud identify and recover from an attack almost instantaneously.

Typically, cyber-attacks force the shutdown of the entire infiltrated system, regardless of whether the attack is on a personal computer, a business website or an entire network. While the shutdown prevents the virus from spreading, it effectively disables the underlying infrastructure until cleanup is complete.

Professor Martin Rinard, a principal investigator at CSAIL and leader of the Cloud Intrusion Detection and Repair project, and his team of researchers aim to develop a smart, self-healing cloud computing infrastructure that would be able to identify the nature of an attack and then, essentially, fix itself.

The scope of their work is based on examining the normal operations of the cloud to create guidelines for how it should look and function, then drawing upon this model so that the cloud can identify when an attack is underway and return to normal as quickly as possible.

“Much like the human body has a monitoring system that can detect when everything is running normally, our hypothesis is that a successful attack appears as an anomaly in the normal operating activity of the system,” said Rinard. “By observing the execution of a ‘normal’ cloud system we’re going to the heart of what we want to preserve about the system, which should hopefully keep the cloud safe from attack.”

Rinard believes that a major problem with today’s cloud computing infrastructures is the lack of a thorough understanding of how they operate. His research aims to identify systemic effects of different behavior on cloud computing systems for clues about how to prevent future attacks.

“Our goal is to observe and understand the normal operation of the cloud, then when something out of the ordinary happens, take actions that

steer the cloud back into its normal operating mode,” said Rinard. “Our expectation is that if we can do this, the cloud will survive the attack and keep operating without a problem.”

By closely examining the operations of the entire cloud and using that model to prevent attacks, Rinard’s system should allow the cloud to independently detect and recover from new attacks, an operation that is impossible for current systems.

“By monitoring for behavioral deviations that are indicative of malicious activity rather than existing signatures, our system can detect and recover from previously unknown attacks,” said Dr. Stelios Sidiroglou-Douskos, a research scientist at CSAIL.

For more information, see: http://groups.csail.mit.edu/pac/crs/.

REF:

http://www.csail.mit.edu/node/1681

• Article published: February 27, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Abby Abazorius,

MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab

T. 617.324.9135; abbya@csail.mit.edu

 

Roger Archuleta, PEI

 

2012 IT Trends

As 2012 continues to push forward, I’ve started to notice a trend in the types of projects that our existing and new client base is looking at for this year. It doesn’t matter the industry type or the size of the company, all organizations seem to have the same basic IT needs this year. The 3 major types of projects organizations are looking at are Unified Communications, Network Refresh and Disaster Recovery. While all three of these areas are rather broad, I wanted to describe how PEI is helping our clients with the above needs.

Unified Communication – The big interest I’ve seen this year is with organizations looking to either expand or implement some sort of Unified Communications plan. Already in the first 6 weeks, I’ve done countless Microsoft Lync demos, showing how Lync can help reduce the cost of phone charges, reduce the amount of “Instant Messaging” currently taking place over email within organizations, and help make companies more efficient. What has been nice about Lync is that all different business units can benefit from it. The finance team likes Lync because it helps reduce phone costs. IT loves it because support for the solution is rather simple. Sales likes it because of the ease of use for their remote workers who are out in the street selling.

Network Refresh – We saw a large surge in back room network (routers, switches, etc…) projects about 5-6 years ago. Many companies held off on doing the necessary refreshes in the late 2000s due to the struggles within the economy. Now that it seems like the economy has stopped bleeding, many organizations are looking to refresh some of the older gear. PEI has done a few “Network Assessments” to help organizations identify where their networking may be lacking. We can help identify older equipment, end of life equipment, and make recommendations on how to bring your network up to the latest technology.

Disaster Recovery – Tying in with the Network Refresh, many organizations are finding out that they are not as prepared as they think they are when it comes to having a solid Disaster Recovery plan in place. From single points of failure to improper backups, PEI can come help identify where a DR plan is lacking and make the appropriate recommendations. Disaster Recovery is one of those areas within IT that a manager must ensure is set before a situation should arise, as it may be too late at that point to come up with a plan.

I hope that this helps describe some of the work that we are doing and can help companies, small and big, help put forth in 2012.

Arash M Zadeh, PEI

Fast Backup and Recovery of your Virtual Machines

Many organizations have gone to some level of a virtual infrastructure. With this change many organizations are wondering what the best solution is for back up and recovery of their virtual assets. One solution is VMwares Data Recovery solution.

Many backup products write their data to tape, which is great as a longterm storage solution but it is often a difficult and time consuming solution if you need to restore your data. VMware Data Recovery protects against data loss in your virtual environment by enabling fast backups to disk and most importantly fast and complete recovery.

Data Recovery is an easy to deploy solution that is a virtual machine that runs on VMware ESX and ESXi hosts. Another great benefit is that it allows you to restore both individual files or entire images as needed. You also have the ability to use vCenter Server for a centrally managed console.

VMware Data Recovery utilizes built in data de-duplication technology to save significant disk space. The technology eliminates duplicate storage blocks as your backup data is streamed to disk. Data Recovery also allows you to maintain multiple point in time copies of VMs but only use a fraction of the storage. De-duplication operation occurs as the VM backup is stored to disk to efficiently utilize the backup window and available resources.

Check out Vmwares Data Recovery tool as an option to help with the back up and recovery of your virtual machines. A great, cost effective easy to use tool!

Jon A. Eyberg, PEI

How to Maximize Your Unified Communications Return on Investment

I preach all of the time that I believe a well-executed Unified Communications strategy can significantly transform a business. Effective communications and collaboration can increase an organization’s velocity, trim inefficiencies and drive accuracy. A poorly implemented UC solution is simply expensive and frustrating.

The simple truth is that if you’re unwilling to use UC technologies fully, invest the time to be effective with the features, and plan for the transformation across your co-workers, you’re probably not going to get the ROI that’s been promised.

Like any other transformative technology, there are some steps you can take that will help maximize your ROI.

1. Define your Expectations – figure out how you communicate and document what tools, applications and method you’re using. This is critical when developing your “use case” scenarios. Knowing what you need (or what you’re hoping for) is critical in the planning stage.

2. Identify your ROI Model – determining your ROI is all about quantifying the results. What are your old costs and revenues based on your “old way” of communication? Next, figure out what’s going to be impacted when you shift to a UC strategy. Is video conferencing going to save on travel? Do old tools or systems go away? Identifying each impact will plug into your ROI model.

3. Organize Your Workforce – Within IT, UC will consolidate networks, servers, storage, etc. This is going to realign both your equipment and your teams. Organizations with separate telecommunications or video conferencing resources can most likely be consolidated. Your UC design team should address all of the involved areas.

4. Clean Up Your House – Your network may need to be updated to handle UC. A poor network foundation unable to handle to demands of a UC environment will leave your users in the cold. Invest the time and resources up front to be ready. Rolling out UC on an antiquated network will spell disaster.

5. Don’t Think Bandwidth Will Fix Everything – It’s the quality of your network, not your network bandwidth, that will spell success. We see businesses all the time that think a bigger pipe will solve their problems. Network performance is addressed at the core. Failing to address quality will only hide your problems and are devilishly complex to fix after a UC deployment is completed.

6. Test Before you Go Live – take the time to map out the logical and physical paths that your UC traffic will follow. Make sure those pathways can handle the increase load and still deliver the quality of service you expect. Many UC deployments have gone awry because no one took the time to test the architecture. A good test plan will allow you to tune prior to “go live”. Remember, your users aren’t going to tolerate much tweaking and tuning, so get it right before they see it.

Tim Krueger, PEI