Configuring IBM IMM from Windows (Remotely)

I had a server shipped to a remote site today and had forgotten to preconfigure the network settings for the IBM IMM. Luckily this can be configured from the machine from within Windows.

To do this, first of all download the Advanced Settings Utility for appropriate operating system, in this case Windows Server 2008 R2, so I selected the x64 version from the IBM site.

Download and extract the utility and then run it from  a command prompt. I required just the IP Address, Subnet Mask and Default Gateway address changing to static values. This will also disabled DHCP on the IMM interface and then reboot the IMM to apply the new address.

asu64.exe set imm.hostipaddress1 192.168.1.10

asu64.exe set imm.hostipsubnet1 255.255.255.0

asu64.exe set imm.gatewayipaddress1 192.168.1.1

asu64.exe set imm.dhcp1disabled

asu64.exe set imm.reboot

Firewall rule for IIS 7.5 on Server 2008 R2

I've been attempting to install and configure FTP on IIS 7.5 today and had an issue which I believed to be related to the Windows Firewall on the server, while the FTP service appears to be in the list of allowed applications which can pass through the Windows Firewall, a remote FTP connection would still not work.

I found an interesting article advising to add svchost to the allowed applications, which then led me to this article

To get "insecure" FTP working, I ran the following from an elevated command prompt on the server and sure enough it work :o)

netsh advfirewall firewall add rule name="FTP (non-SSL)" action=allow protocol=TCP dir=in localport=21

IIS 7/7.5 Best Practices and Inetpub Relocation

When building Server 2003 web servers, I used the unattended install method to relocate IIS 6 to a drive other than the C: drive, with Server 2008, this isn't possible but the inetpub can be relocated post install.

A list of IIS 7/7.5 best practices compiled by Vivek Kumbhar can be found here and a move script for the relocation of the IIS inetpub can be found at Thomas Deml's blog.

N.B. The syntax for the moveiis7root.bat script is

moveiis7root.bat driveletter

MS KMS and publishing to additional Domains

MS KMS automatically publishes a SRV record to the DNS of it's local domain, which is ideal if there is a single AD forest/single domain configuration, but if instead there's a single AD forest with multiple domains then straight out of the box, a single KMS deployment isn't going to cut it.

Obviously, one or more KMS servers can be deployed in each domain in the forest but even with virtualisation that approach can become expensive, time consuming, complicated from a licensing compliancy perspective. Therefore I propose the following, configure the one (or two) KMS servers located in (maybe the forest root) to service the other domains too.

Once the KMS is configured and working, open Regedit.exe and navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform

Create a new Multi-key Value and name it DnsDomainPublishList. Edit this new registry value and enter a list of the domains which the KMS is to publish to, one per line. (see below)



Once the entries have been made, restart the 'Software Protection' service.

In order for KMS aware clients to 'find' the KMS, it registers SRV records in DNS _VLMCS._TCP., confirmation that this has occurred can be found in the Application Event log on the KMS server with an Event ID of 12294, with the message;

Publishing the Key Management Service (KMS) to DNS in the fake.company.com' domain is successful.

If any 12293 Event IDs exist with

'Publishing the Key Management Service (KMS) to DNS in the 'fake.company.com' domain failed.
Info:
0x80072338

Check  the _tcp. for an existing _VLMCS SRV record, as a KMS may have already been unwittingly introduced to the environment.

My VMware vSphere Windows Server 2008 R2 Template

Creating the Template VM

Create a new VM, set the OS as Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit
CPU - 1
RAM - 1GB
Disk Type - LSI Logic SAS
Disk Size - 40GB - System
Disk Size - 10GB - Apps

Once completed, remove the Floppy Disk before switching on.
Select the tick box to easily access the VM's BIOS settings when next powered on.

Power on the VM



Configure the BIOS

VM > Edit Settings > Options > Advanced > Boot Options > Force BIOS Setup > The next time the virtual machine boots, force entry into the BIOS setup screen.


Main > Legacy Diskette A



Advanced > I/O Device Configuration



Install VMware Tools

Install VMware Tools from VM > Guest > Install/Upgrade VMware Tools

Choose Custom Install > VMware Device Drivers > and select 'This feature will not be available' for the following drivers;

• Thin Print
• Shared Folders
• Audio Drivers

Change Device driver to cure the jerky mouse

Device Manager > Display Adapters > Standard VGA Graphics Adapter

Right Click > Update Driver software > Browse my computer for driver software > Path:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\Drivers\Video

The display driver should be detected as a VMware SVGA II and Reboot

Right click on Desktop > Screen Resolution > Advanced Settings > Troubleshooting > Properties > set 'Hardware Acceleration' to Full

Disable Hibernation

Open a Command Prompt by typing POWERCFG -H OFF


Change the Power Profile

Control Panel > Power Options > Change Power Plan to 'High Performance'


Enable Remote Desktop

Right click 'My Computer' > Properties > Remote Settings > Remote tab and select 'Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop (less secure)'




Change Performance Options

Right click 'My Computer' > Properties >Advanced System Settings > Advanced tab > Performance settings and select 'Adjust for best performance'.


Set Screen saver to Blank

Control Panel > Display > Change Screen saver > Select 'Blank' from the drop down


Set Sounds to None

Control Panel  > Sounds > Sound Tab and select 'No Sounds' from Sound Scheme drop down





Change Notification Area settings

Right click Taskbar > 'Properties' > Taskbar tab and Notification area > Customize



Disable Windows Firewall

  Control Panel > Windows Firewall > Turn Windows Firewall on or off



















Configure SNMP

Go to Server Manager and select 'Features'  > Add Feature > SNMP


Sysprep Preparation

Place a file named 'SetupComplete.cmd' in C:\Windows\Setup and include the line

bcdedit /timeout 8

This will be automatically invoked after sysprep stage and change the OS selection time to 8 seconds upon start-up once the template has been deployed.

Finally place the unattend.xml into the C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep folder before initiating the sysprep process with the following command from a command prompt;

cd c:\windows\system32\sysprep\
sysprep /generalize /oobe /shutdown /unattend:unattend.xml

The resulting machine can then be shutdown and converted to a template in vCenter.