Install VMware Tools on Debian

During installation the kernel headers and a C compiler will be required, to check which kernel you are using type this command:

# uname -r
2.6.18-5-686

# apt-get install linux-headers-2.6.18-5-686
# apt-get install make gcc

Now that the required packages are installed follow these steps to install the vmware tools:

1. click install vmware tools from the vmware server console menu
2. mkdir /mnt/cdrom
3. mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom
4. cd /tmp
5. tar zxf /mnt/cdrom/VMwareTools-1.0.3-44356.tar.gz
6. cd vmware-tools-distrib
7. ./vmware-install.pl
8. accept the default paths and choose to run the vmware-config-tools.pl at the end

The VMware tools have now been installed.

Transfer SQL Server Jobs from SQL Server 2000 to 2005

To transfer sql server jobs from sql server 2000 to sql server 2005 you can use SQL Server Business Intelligence Development Studio.

1. Click file -> new -> project to create a new Integration Services Project
2. Click view -> toolbox so you can see an overview of all the items
3. From the toolbox, drag the "transfer jobs task" to the control flow window
4. Right click the transfer job task and click edit
5. Select jobs and enter the source and destination server, you can test the connection immediately
6. Choose to transfer all jobs, or only the ones you can select from the given list
7. Set the desired IfObjectExists and EnableJobsAtDestination option and click OK
8. Right-click the transfer jobs task and click execute task

If the job fails it will turn red, if it succeeds it turns green. Click on execution results to check for errors.
A couple of reasons why the task would fail:

• the job owner does not exist on the destination server, you can modiy this on the source server in the job properties


• if you have e-mail notifications enabled on the job, be sure the operator exists on the destination server or disable this


• if the database for which the job will be executed does not exist that job transfer will fail

A couple screenshots from the transfer jobs task properties and the execution results:





 

Deploy Windows Server 2003 using WDS

• Install WS 2008 and WDS


• Copy boot.wim from \sources folder from a Vista DVD


• Use WDS to add that boot.wim to the boot images


• Right-click this image, and select "Create capture boot image", call it Capture or something similar


• Add this capture image to the boot images


• Disable all boot images, except for the capture image


• Install Windows Server 2003 with service packs, updates, applications,... on a new server


• Extract the content of \support\tools\deploy.cab from the ws 2003 cd to c:\sysprep on the new server


• Run c:\sysprep\setupmgr.exe to create a sysprep answer file for future deployments


• Save the answerfile as sysprep.inf and copy it to the WDS server


• Run c:\sysprep\sysprep.exe /reseal /mini /reboot


• When the server reboots, press F12 twice to do a PXE boot and load the winPE for capturing


• Follow the steps until you get to the Image Capture Source screen, here you can select the volume, usually this would be C:\, you have the option to immediately upload the captured image to the WDS server, be sure to have created an image group first. Type the ip address of the WDS server, and then you have to type the credentials to connect (turn off the windows firewall)

• When finished, click close, the server will reboot and load the sysprep wizard, complete this wizard. In future deployments this will be done by sysprep.inf


• Copy the sysprep.inf that you saved earlier on the WDS server to \RemoteInstall\Images\<imagegroup>\<imagename>\$OEM$\$1\Sysprep\ (you have to create this structure)


• Create an unattended file for the WDS client and attach this to the WDS server:

<?xml version="1.0" ?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
   <settings pass="windowsPE">
	  <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"
language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" processorArchitecture="x86">
	     <WindowsDeploymentServices>
	        <Login>
	           <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
	           <Credentials>
	                 <Username>**username**</Username>
	                 <Domain>**domain**</Domain>
	                 <Password>**password**</Password>
	              </Credentials>
	           </Login>
	        <ImageSelection>
	           <WillShowUI>Never</WillShowUI>
	           <InstallImage>
	              <ImageName>**imagename**</ImageName>
	              <ImageGroup>**imagegroup**</ImageGroup>
	              <Filename>**filename.wim**</Filename>
	           </InstallImage>
	              <InstallTo>
	              <DiskID>0</DiskID>
	              <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
	           </InstallTo>
	        </ImageSelection>
	     </WindowsDeploymentServices>
	        <DiskConfiguration>
	            <WillShowUI>Never</WillShowUI>
	            <Disk>
	                <CreatePartitions>
	                    <CreatePartition>
	                        <Order>1</Order>
	                        <Type>Primary</Type>
	                        <Extend>true</Extend>
	                    </CreatePartition>
	                </CreatePartitions>
	                <DiskID>0</DiskID>
	                <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk>
	                <ModifyPartitions>
	                    <ModifyPartition>
	                        <Active>true</Active>
	                        <Extend>False</Extend>
	                        <Format>NTFS</Format>
	                        <Label>SYSTEM</Label>
	                        <Letter>C</Letter>
	                        <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
	                        <Order>1</Order>
	                    </ModifyPartition>
	                </ModifyPartitions>
	            </Disk>
   </DiskConfiguration>
	  </component>
   </settings>
</unattend>

• Create an auto-cast session for this image to be deployed on other machines

Inject VMWare NIC driver into Windows Server 2008 boot image

This guide only works on WS 2008 or Vista. The WAIK is supported on WS 2003 and XP too, but the driver injection will fail.
You can download the WAIK here.

Install the WAIK, open the Windows PE Tools Command Prompt. Also, have the WS 2008 boot.wim ready, and mount the VMWare Tools image by clicking "Install VMWare Tools", this will mount the drivers on the cd-rom drive.
If you are not doing these steps on a virtual machine, you can also just download these drivers (vmxnet).

1. copype x86 c:\windowspe
2. imagex /info "c:\path\to\x86\boot.wim"
In the WIM Information, look for the Boot Index, in this case the boot index is 2. We will use this in the next step.

3. imagex /mountrw "c:\path\to\x86\boot.wim" 2 c:\windowspe\mount
4. peimg /inf="c:\path\to\vmxnet\win2k\vmxnet.inf" c:\windowspe\mount\windows
5. peimg /inf="c:\path\to\vmxnet\win2k\vmware-nic.inf" c:\windowspe\mount\windows
You should see "PEIMG completed the operation successfully". If you would do this on a XP or 2003 machine, the message would be "PEIMG failed to complete the operation with status code 0x800703fb".
It's possible that this WILL work in future versions, but at the moment it doesn't

6. imagex /unmount c:\windowspe\mount /commit

The boot.wim image has now been injected with the VMWare NIC drivers.

There is an alternative to this, instead of doing the above driver injection procedure, you can add this to your .vmx file to have network support too: ethernet0.VirtualDev="e1000"

Clear System Event Log (SEL) on DELL PowerEdge Server

I had to ran the diagnostic tools on a dell pe 1950 server, but the test stopped very early with the message "the system event log contains memory related errors".
There are several ways to clear the SEL, one that can be performed locally and one remotely.

1. Clear the SEL locally

At boot, press ctrl-E to set the BMC ip address, in this same window you can choose to clear the system event log.

2. Clear the SEL remotely

If you have not already set an ip address for the BMC, do it now by pressing ctrl-E at boot. Besides configuring the ip address, enable IPMI too.
At the client be sure to have the bmc management utility installed, the default installation path is c:\program files\dell\sysmgt\bmc.
Perform the following command to clear the sel: ipmish.exe -ip 192.168.1.44 -u root -p calvin sel clear
To view how many entries are in the sel: ipmish.exe -ip 192.168.1.44 -u root -p calvin sel status

Change logical filename of SQL database

Perform this query to change the logical filename of both the data and logfile of you database.

USE MASTER
GO
ALTER DATABASE MyDatabase
MODIFY FILE
(NAME = <DBFileName_DATA>, NEWNAME='NewDBFileName_Data')
GO

ALTER DATABASE MyDatabase
MODIFY FILE
(NAME = DBFileName_Log, NEWNAME='NewDBFileName_Log')
GO

Install VMWare Tools on Server Core

In VMware Server Console, click "Install VMware Tools".
The setup GUI will not automaticly appear, so you have to run it manually. Actually by clicking on "install vmware tools" the cd-rom drive was mounted with tools, so you can now type "D:", and then run setup.exe.
This will run the setup GUI and you can install the tools like you would normally.