SystemCenter Virtual labs

Try to use hi-res 21" screen if you do not want to scroll and play with windows all the time.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/virtuallabs/bb539977

SCVMM 2012 sp1 can place service on the host group, but not in cloud ( Error 23776 and 23751)

Error (23776)
The VM [xx] could not be placed on cloud [LCloud] due to the following issues: 

(1 / 1) 23751
The virtual machine workload xx specifies settings that are not allowed by any capability profile supported by the cloud. A list of validation errors specific to each matching capability profile can be accessed by validating the hardware profile or template before it is rated

Recommended Action
Ensure that there are no operations occurring on virtual machine xx and attempt placement again.

The issue is that VM template had no cloud capability Hyper-V selected, so going back to VMTemplate properties - Hardware and selecting capability (on the very top of the dialog) solved the issue.

Refer to http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/4149.capability-profiles-in-scvmm-2012.aspx

WSUS on Windows 2012

After fresh install of WSUS on Windows 2012 there were many errors complaining that files could not be downloaded:
Content file download failed. Reason: Value does not fall within the expected range. Source File: /msdownload/update/software/crup/2013/06/windows8-rt-kb2856758-x64_4a2fc4fd76b6325dec1c52ff8839f669b8336554.cab Destination File: e:WsusContent\54\4A2FC4FD76B6325DEC1C52FF8839F669B8336554.cab.

it is similar to the reported case here:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/df029243-3cf0-4d58-94dc-89ceeea63587/value-does-not-fall-within-the-expected-range-on-new-wsus-install-on-server-2012


Fixing registry as suggested above did not help. Hotfix didn't help either. There was no proxy at all. The solution was to reinstall WSUS with path E:\  rather that e:.

SCVMM does not allow to add Hyper-V host's internal network to logical networks

SCVMM will propose you only external (physical) adapters to be included to logical networks. Internal network will not appear as a choice in SCVMM - VM properties - Hardware Configuration - Network Adapter - Connect to VM Network - will show as "Not specified".  This might not be very convenient for some lab tests. To go around it you can add Microsoft loopback legacy adapter and use it as spoof physical nic to create internal network within a host. Note that in 2012 device manager is called now "Microsoft KM-TEST Loopback Adapter". Are there other ways to do the same thing?

SCVMM networking poster

A poster explaining SCVMM 2012 SP1 networking structure and configuration steps
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=37137

from that poster you can also reach this detailed explanation from technet http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj983727.aspx

Can not start VM from a saved state

After unclean stop of host server Windows 2012, VMs could not start with errors:

Event ID:      18160
Description:
Failed to get summary information for virtual machine 'SCO2012' (Virtual machine ID C2C460B1-60F5-410F-A976-857AF0387131). Error: %%2147778581 (0x80048015).

Event ID:      3070
Description:
'SCO2012' could not read or update virtual machine configuration: %%2147778581 (0x80048015). (Virtual machine ID C2C460B1-60F5-410F-A976-857AF0387131)

Event ID:      3040
Description:
'SCO2012' could not initialize. (Virtual machine ID C2C460B1-60F5-410F-A976-857AF0387131)


The practical solution is to "Delete saved state" in hyper-v manager or "Discard Saved State" in SCVMM 2012 and start VM. For critical systems you probably need to take several precautions, like to have backup, export, etc., to be able to rollback any change before you do the change.

break out from PRISM

Diificult to walk away from NSA surveillance, but possible:

http://prism-break.org/

As usual the answer is in the domain of open source.

PSM

Professional Scrum Master certificate from scrum.org in the pocket!

Inovement

That is an interesting company presentation that stands out. It sounds like "Agile Manifesto" but for IT security domain:

http://www.slideshare.net/vaceituno/inovement-portfolio

SCVMM 2012 add host error 406

Bumped into error message while trying to add a physical workgroup host to SCVMM 2012:

Access has been denied while contacting the server xxx
1. Verify that the specified user account has administrative privileges on xxx
2. Verify that DCOM access, launch, and activation permissions are enabled on xxx for the Administrators group. Use dcomcnfg.exe to modify permissions, and then try the operation again.
ID: 406

the solution was to run "winrm quickconfig" as administrator on the target server.

How to deploy Windows 8 with MDT and SC2012

There is a MVP blog that covers all that:

http://deploymentresearch.com

The presentation from author:

http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/WCA-B305/

more about the subject

http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Speakers/Mikael-Nystrom

http://60minosd.com

PenTest recon tool - FOCA

http://www.informatica64.com/foca.aspx

Presentation of an older version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ou4TRvzYpVk

Mandiant report on APT1 - chineese hacking unit

http://intelreport.mandiant.com/Mandiant_APT1_Report.pdf

LSA secrets dump

The tool that dumps LSA secrets as well as clear text passwords from the memory.
http://www.truesec.se/sakerhet/verktyg/saakerhet/gsecdump_v2.0b5

Have a look at excellent demo video from TechEd 2013:
APTs: Cybercrime, Cyber Attacks, Warfare and Threats Exposed

http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/ATC-B302

SAP launches open and free e-learning

There is only one course available at this moment SAP HANa software development. Students will have free courses and exams, but will have to pay to access the system to write the code.

https://open.sap.com

Anyway, I think it is a good marketing initiative from SAP and should help to drive skills to a SAP selected direction, as well as provide some excitement to those who eager to learn.

The future of IT...

The Future of IT...

• Smaller IT departments.
• Tech positions embedded within business units.
• Fewer purely technical jobs.
• Broader job descriptions.
• Many outsourced functions.
• Demand for people who know multiple technologies.
• Strategic, analytic and communication skills at a premium.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9227617/IT_Skills_Jumping_the_Chasm?taxonomyId=14&pageNumber=1