New platform support in SCCM 2012 SP1

Microsoft announced this week that Service Pack 1 for SCCM 2012 would be released in Q3. In addition to the expected support for Windows 8, they've added support for Mac OS X and Linux. Yes, really.

The announcement was at TechEd America 2012, but I found out about it at the Best of MMS event in Edinburgh being run by Charteris. The Microsoft guy I spoke to confirmed that Endpoint Protection is part of this support. Yes, that's a Microsoft antimalware solution for your Mac and Linux machines!

Troubleshooting the TFTP Service

This is a companion post to the Troubleshooting PXE in SCCM OSD series.

Troubleshooting PXE in SCCM OSD Part 1
Troubleshooting PXE in SCCM OSD Part 2
Troubleshooting PXE in SCCM OSD Part 3

As seen in the previous blog posts, a key part of the PXE process is the TFTP download of boot files to the client machine. If things aren't working it's always worth checking the tftp service is behaving as you'd expect. Microsoft provide a basic TFTP client with Windows. It's installed by default on Windows XP, but you'll need to do a wee bit of work to get this program working on Windows 7.

Installing and configuring the TFTP client on Windows 7

Firstly, to install the tftp client

1. In Control Panel, choose Programs and Features.
2. On the left hand pane, click "Turn Windows features on and off"
3. Find the entry for TFTP Client and tick the box. This will probably require a restart.
   
   
   

Secondly, you need to allow the tftp client through the Windows Firewall

1. Go to the Windows Firewall Control Panel.
2. On the left hand pane, click Allow a program or feature through Windows Firewall.
3. Click Allow another program.
4. Click Browse. Browse to C:\Windows\system32, choose tftp.exe then click Open.
5. On the Add a Program dialog, ensure "Trivial File Transfer Protocol App" is selected. Click Add.
6. Check that on the "Allow programs to communicate through Windows Firewall" page "Trivial File Transfer Protocol App" is selected and allowed-
   
   
   

A quick test to see whether TFTP is working

Once you have a working tftp client, run up a command prompt. Run the following command-

C:\Users\Administrator>tftp -i servername get smsboot\x86\pxeboot.n12

-where servername is your PXE server. You should get an almost instantaneous response-

Transfer successful: 25772 bytes in 1 second(s), 25772 bytes/s

If this works, then your TFTP service looks healthy. If not, read on...

Some common TFTP errors

• Error on server : The specified file was not found.
  
  If you get the following response-

  Error on server : The specified file was not found. Connect request failed

  You are probably missing files in the RemoteInstall directory. Browse to this directory, or map a drive to the folder (it's shared out as \\servername\reminst) and check that you have the relevant file structure
  
  
  
  
  
  If the folders are missing, or the folders are empty, then something is wrong with the PXE service point. The most common solution to this is to remove the role and reinstate it.
• Error on server : Access violation.
  
  This suggests a permission problem in the RemoteInstall directory. Check the NTFS permissions.

If you are getting a response from the server, but are seeing a timeout error, this could be due to an overaggressive network filter. To check this create a small file in the SMSBoot folder. In the following example I created a text file called test.txt which contained the word "test".

C:\Users\Administrator>tftp -i servername get smsboot\test.txt

Transfer successful: 8 bytes in 1 second(s), 8 bytes/s

If this command is successful, but larger files can not be transferred, then check with your networking people. I have seen this happen when port 69 is opened but other ports are blocked. From our observations, the first 512 bytes can be transferred over port 69, but anything above 512 bytes will be transferred on a randomly assigned ephemeral port. If you've asked the networking people to allow tftp traffic, there is a chance they've only opened up port 69 and not factored in the ephemeral ports.

Create a Windows 8 bootable USB drive

For those that can't find a blank DVD, the Windows 8 Consumer Preview ISOs can be put on a USB drive and made bootable using the Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool. Instructions are on the Windows 8 ISO download page.

Windows 8 Consumer preview - http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso
Windows 7 USB/DVD Download tool - http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool

You might need to enter the product key to install the preview - from the FAQ page it's DNJXJ-7XBW8-2378T-X22TX-BKG7J.

MMS 2013 - New Orleans in June

Another surprise at the second keynote was the announcement that MMS 2013 will not be in Las Vegas in Spring, but New Orleans in June. A good move in my opinion - it's difficult to get approval to go to a conference at the best of times, but when your boss sees that it's in Vegas he's probably imagining gambling and showgirls. New Orleans is probably easier to get approval for as it's not Mardi Gras time, and your boss is probably thinking of Jazz, Roger Moore in a 70s suit or Van Damme in Hard Target.

MMS 2012 - Deploying apps to iOS devices

Of all the stuff presented in the second MMS 2012 keynote, I was most impressed by something the camera didn't catch. If you watch the on demand version the bit near the end is pretty special. It was an app deployment to an iPhone using Microsoft management tools. The tech details were thin on the ground, but this could be massive for those of us who have to manage iDevices in the enterprise.

Windows Server 8 official name revealed at MMS 2012

Brad Anderson has just announced that Windows Server 8 will now be known as Windows Server 2012. Apart from the name change, the user interface has had a subtle Metro ribbon upgrade. If you want to watch some demos then have a look at the MMS 2012 keynote at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/new.aspx.

Microsoft Management Summit 2012

Rod Trent has put up some pictures from this years MMS at myitforum. I didn't manage to get to go this year, but there's some great online resources available for those of us who can't make it.

The first keynote can be streamed from here. System Center 2012 has been officially released today, but some of us have been using it for a few weeks!

The MMS website claims that you can watch individual sessions at http://www.mms-2012.com/digitalmms, but the links aren't active yet. If you've never been to MMS before, or viewed MMS sessions, I highly recommend you use the digital MMS resource.