BDD2007 PXE-Filter

By Rikard Ronnkvist, 2008-03-25 16:39 ConfigMgr

The PXE-filter in BDD2007 isn’t the best, and there are a few good-to-know things that can be hard to find…

The script \Microsoft Deployment Toolkit\Scripts\PXEFilter.vbs have a few parameters at the top that you need to configure:

sProviderServer = "sccmserver.domain.com" ' FQDN of the SCCM-server
sSiteCode = "CS1" ' Your site-code
sNamespace = "root\sms\site_" & sSiteCode ' Do not change
sUsername = "" ' Keep this one blank if the WDS and SCCM are installed on the same machine
sPassword = "" ' Same as with sUsername
sCollection = "CS10000E" ' ID of the deployment role

Remember: Do not add user and pass when you are on the same machine.

To debug the script, set the following key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Tracing\WDSSERVER\EnableFileTracing to 1 and restart WDSServer
When you do, it will create a logile at %WinDir%\Tracing\WDSServer.LOG

If you need to add some debug-info in the script, add a line like this:

PXE.LogTrace "My little debug-thingy"

Then you will se the following line in WDSServer.LOG:

[5440] 15:34:11: [WDSPXE] [Microsoft.BDD.PXEFilter] My little debug-thingy
 

And when you get it to work, the WDSServer.LOG should look like this:

[6288] 15:34:07: [WDSPXE] [Microsoft.BDD.PXEFilter] About to run script
[1812] 15:34:07: [WDSPXE] [Microsoft.BDD.PXEFilter] PXEFilter.vbs – Processing request from MAC address = 00:11:22:33:44:55, IP address = 0.0.0.0, UUID = 11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111
[1812] 15:34:07: [WDSPXE] [Microsoft.BDD.PXEFilter] PXEFilter.vbs – Could not find machine with MAC address ’00:11:22:33:44:55′ or SMBIOS UUID ’11111111-1111-1111-1111-111111111111′.
[1812] 15:34:07: [WDSPXE] [Microsoft.BDD.PXEFilter] PXEFilter.vbs – Added new machine with ResourceID = 46
[1812] 15:34:08: [WDSPXE] [Microsoft.BDD.PXEFilter] PXEFilter.vbs – Added new membership rule to collection CS10000E
[1812] 15:34:11: [WDSPXE] [Microsoft.BDD.PXEFilter] PXEFilter.vbs – Found advertisement CS120001
 

So what does the PXE-filter do?
1. Looks to see if the machine exist (via WMI to the SCCM-server)
2. If it exist, just exit the script. If not, create it.
3. Add it to the collection (Stated with the sCollection-setting)
4. Wait’s up to 15 seconds to see if there is an advertisment against the collection.
And then it’s done.

Note: I found this info when using SCCM2007 and BDD2007, might work with other versions…


Inline tasks in SCOM

By Rikard Ronnkvist, 2008-02-01 11:22 OpsMgr

Since I can’t find any documentation on how to create inline tasks in knowledge I did a small reverse engineering on a SCOM MP.

Here is a summary of how to do it:

First you need to create a task that you can refer to. Take a note of your Task ID.

>
  ID="snowland_ServiceMonitor_ConsoleTask" Accessibility="Internal" Enabled="true" Target="snowland_ServiceMonitor_Class" Timeout="300" Remotable="true">
    >Alert>
    ID="PA" TypeID="System!System.CommandExecuter">
      >%SystemRoot%\System32\net.exe>
      >%SystemRoot%\System32>
      >START MyService>
      >20>
      >true>
    >
  >
>
 

And when you have the Task ID of your task you can create an inline task (or a link to a view or a website)

xmlns:maml="http://schemas.microsoft.com/maml/2004/10">

        >Resolutions>
        >Mumbo jumbo text…>
        >
                >
                        >My Task>
                        condition="Task" href="snowland_ServiceMonitor_ConsoleTask&tasktarget={$TARGET$}" uri="MOM.Console.Exe" />
                >
        >

        >
                >
                        >My View>
                        condition="View" href="snowland_ServiceMonitor_MyView&viewtarget={$TARGET$}" uri="MOM.Console.Exe" />
                >
        >

        >
                >My WebLink>
                href="https://snowland.se/" />
        >
>
 

Tip: Use Authoring Console and a XML-editor.


Softgrid KB

By Rikard Ronnkvist, 2007-05-31 07:31 App-V

After Microsoft bought Softricity they moved the Softgrid Knowledgebase over to the “normal” Microsoft KB…

The downside with that is that they removed some articles.

But… the old KB is still online.

URL: http://softricity.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/softricity.cfg/php/enduser/std_alp.php?p_sid=6ghl8TCi

Tip: Search for “Recipe”

Thanks for the URL Martin…