The D-Spot (The Deployment Spot)

During the analysis phase of a windows 7 x64 migration I have been using the MAP, ACT and OMPM tools.

After handing over all the lists on the application and current client side infrastructure, the first question that came is: “ok I see a lot of applications listed that are only installed on one machine, can you give us the machinenames?”.

ehm well, it should be possible…

in the ACT GUI you can find the computername if you click on the application, but I had to find a way to automate this

So I installed the SQL management studio express and dived into the ACT database.

Here is the SQL query to give you all applications installed on only 1 machine:

SELECT DISTINCT
Application_Computer_Count.computerCount,
Application_Computers_Query.machineName,
Application_Report_Complete_vw.AppName,
Application_Report_Complete_vw.AppID

FROM         Application_Computer_Count INNER JOIN
Application_Report_Complete_vw ON Application_Computer_Count.appID = Application_Report_Complete_vw.AppID INNER JOIN
Application_Computers_Query ON Application_Report_Complete_vw.AppID =Application_Computers_Query.appID

WHERE     (Application_Computer_Count.computerCount= 1)

ORDER BY
Application_Report_Complete_vw.AppName

What is more interesting is the following query, which will give you all applications installed on 1 pc marked with 1 or more issues:

SELECT DISTINCT

App_Issue_Counts.appID,
App_Issue_Counts.activeIssuesCount, Application_Computer_Count.computerCount,
Application_Computers_Query.machineName,Application_Report_Complete_vw.AppName

FROM         App_Issue_Counts INNER JOIN

Application_Computer_Count ON App_Issue_Counts.appID =Application_Computer_Count.appID INNER JOIN

Application_Computers_Query ON App_Issue_Counts.appID =Application_Computers_Query.appID INNER JOIN

Application_Report_Complete_vw ON App_Issue_Counts.appID =Application_Report_Complete_vw.AppID

WHERE     (App_Issue_Counts.activeIssuesCount >=’1′) AND (Application_Computer_Count.computerCount = 1)

ORDER BY
Application_Report_Complete_vw.AppName

another thing with ACT 5.6, was that it did not seem clear to me why none of the 16 bit applications were listed in the collected data

Luckily there is a way to find them with another SQL query, checkout (and credits to): http://www.theexperienceblog.com/2011/04/14/how-to-find-16-bit-applications-in-your-act-inventory

The last thing for now on ACT is that the collector is not capable yet to work with windows 7 sp1.

you need to import a sql script to make this possible

Here is the content of this script (the import can be done via osql.exe -E -i<thenameofthesqlscript> -S”<sqlserver\instance>” -d<dbname> :

INSERT INTO.[dbo].[OS]
([osID]
,[osName]
,[majorVersion]
,[minorVersion]
,[buildNumber]
,[servicePackName]
,[servicePackMajor]
,[servicePackMinor]
,[csdVersion]
,[productType]
,[suite]
,[publishedDate])
VALUES
(N’6.1.1′
,N’Windows 7 SP1′
,6
,1
,0
,N’Service Pack 1′
,1
,0
,N’Service Pack 1′
,0
,0
,’2011-02-22′)
GO

Also remember, the infliction point to test applications during a migration is:

COST of failure X PROBABILITY of failure > COST of testing

Today I have been searching to get the SUP role running in SCCM ’07 R3.  doublechecking ports and proxy settings did not advance me much.

the thing is the initial synchronization kept on giving error 6703: UssCommunicationError: WebException: The underlying connection was closed: Could not establish trust relationship for the SSL/TLS secure channel. —> System.Security.Authentication.AuthenticationException: The remote certificate is invalid according to .
 Source: Microsoft.SystemsManagementServer.SoftwareUpdatesManagement.WSyncAction.WSyncAction.SyncWSUS.
  The operating system reported error 2147500037: Unspecified error

windowsupdate.log: cached cookie has expired

making sure the SCCM server was not applying the GPO with the ‘regular’ WSUS settings enabled.

when I tried to check for updates on the server I kept recieving the message : error 80072f8f or better 80072efd

solution: went to http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931125/en-us and downloaded/installed the rootsupd.exe on my sccm server. after that I was able to check for updates on the server itself and the sync finally started

can’t remember completely how I got to that point..

Problem solved!

I hope the title didn’t scare you too hard…

anyway, I wanted to remind you that in the coming weeks Microsoft will cease to support some client OS.

- on July 13 the support for XP SP2 will stop ( Note: this is not valid if you are running XP SP2 64 bit edition that will be supported until April 2014 )

- also on July 13 extended support for both Windows 2000 client and Server SP4 will stop

- on the first of June, the RC of Windows 7 will stop working.

- Support for Vista RTM has already stopped on April 13

Be Prepared!

I want to draw your attention to this creative approach Microsoft Belux has launched in order to throw a retirement party for our beloved friend, Windows XP. 

checkout http://www.xpmetpensioen.be for full details (including competition rules) on this matter!

In fact by writing down your name on the goodbye card for XP, your company can win one of three real farewell parties.  so make some fuzz and write this on your billboards next monday, the company with the most registered signatures is a good candidate to win one of the parties.  There is even more, the 10 most original signatures  are likely to win a legit copy of Windows 7 Ultimate (5 x) or Office 2010 Professional (5 x) !

This farewell card will be closed after the 25th of June.

And even though your workspace is more than just an OS, you should really get yourself acquainted with Windows 7, the perfect employee for your company !

Cheers!

Today at 5 PM a webinar about Desktop Virtualization is scheduled on http://www.desktopvirtualizationhour.com

apparantly a lot of rumors exist about the content of this event, will Microsoft make an important announcement? maybe news on the Calista front? or updated licensing information for VECD?

who knows?

I’d say, check out the webcast!

>all info is published in the following press-release : http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2010/mar10/03-18DesktopVirtPR.mspx

In the case I’m not the last one in the world to know this site, appdeploy.com provides useful info and tips & tricks about packaging common applications…

This must be the shorted post ‘till now

err… no it’s not a typo ! it’s not a bird, it’s not an aeroplane: it’s Windows 8 !

Even though Windows 7 has just been born, it’s not a secret that Microsoft is already working on its successor, let’s call it Windows 8 for the time being.

It’s too early off course to have official information on this, but what do we know already?

• - release date is somewhere in 2012 ( following a new major Server release )
• - near the end of 2010 the first public beta (including a nearly definitive feature list) should be available
• - stop 32 bit support, but introducing 128 bit support ?
• - thanks to a new API, hibernate/resume will be even more faster than today
• - better multimonitor support ( rumors about three or more monitors are spreading… )
• - changes in network security, authentication and encryption are very probable
• …

to be continued !

Last week we got some good news from Microsoft. I am proud that we are registered as an official preferred Windows 7 partner. As a team we were rewarded for our continuous investigation in new technologies. This is truly a reward for the team. You can find us at http://www.uptimegroup.be/media/html/bands/index.html

We are also listed on the following platform http://www.microsoft.com/belux/technetroadshow/default.aspx.

Windows 7 is the NEW Desktop Operating System around. Recently we hosted an event about “Managing the Dynamic Desktop”. This seminar not only listed many of the new features and functionality that are included in Windows 7 but also answered many deployment questions. Some of them were “how do I know which deployment system is best-suited for my organization?” and “how can I certify this to be my final mass deployment”

 The result can be found here:

http://seminar.the-d-spot.org/Windows 7 Presentation_part1.pdf

http://seminar.the-d-spot.org/Windows 7 Presentation_part2.pdf

On September the 29th (from 6PM to 8PM UTC+1) Microsoft will discuss the “New Efficiency” and the upcoming launches of Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Exchange  2010 during a Live discussion from San Francisco (make sure to put some flowers in your hair! )

Checkout all info on www.thenewefficiency.com

You do not want to miss this!