Windows Tips & Tricks UPDATE, January 31, 2005

Windows Tips & Tricks UPDATE, January 31, 2005, —brought to you by the Windows IT Pro Network and the Windows 2000 FAQ site
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FAQs

Q. Does the Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) OS Deployment Feature Pack support multicasting?
Q. Does Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) have an updated Sysprep tool?
Q. What's the Microsoft Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment (BDD)?
Q. Does Microsoft offer any tools to help diagnose Windows Server 2003 performance problems?
Q. How can I use the Windows Server 2003 Performance Advisor?

Commentary
by John Savill, FAQ Editor, [email protected]

In this issue, I talk about Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) OS Deployment Feature Pack and multicasting, Windows XP Service Pack 2's (SP2's) Sysprep tool, the Microsoft Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment (BDD), and the Windows Server 2003 Performance Advisor tool.

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FAQs

Q. Does the Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) OS Deployment Feature Pack support multicasting?

A. No. Unlike Automated Deployment Services (ADS), which supports multicasting and therefore can deploy 100 machines--or one machine--using the same amount of bandwidth, the SMS OS Deployment Feature Pack supports unicasting only. Therefore, if you deploy 100 machines, the image file will be sent over the network 100 times.

Q. Does Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) have an updated Sysprep tool?

A. XP SP2 introduces an updated version of Sysprep. The updated Sysprep tool is in the deploy.cab file in XP SP2's \support\tools folder, or you can download the tool at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=3e90dc91-ac56-4665-949b-beda3080e0f6. When you open the downloaded deploy.cab file (e.g., by using WinZip), you'll see the updated sysprep.exe and setupcl.exe files, which are required for Sysprep operation.

Q. What's the Microsoft Solution Accelerator for Business Desktop Deployment (BDD)?

A. Microsoft has been experimenting with zero-touch deployment technologies, and early in 2004 I attended a 3-day training session about the company's upcoming zero-touch technology. The technology is a set of scripts that uses existing solutions such as Sysprep, Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS), Microsoft SQL Server, User State Migration Tool (USMT), and a third-party disk-imaging tool to enable OS deployment and refresh operations without requiring any user input. Microsoft has now released this technology, with some modifications, as BDD. The technology now uses the SMS OS Deployment Feature Pack instead of the third-party imaging tool. It also includes the zero-touch provisioning component to deploy software to clients in a self-service manner (Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004 is required for zero-touch provisioning). You can download BDD at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/desktopdeployment/bddoverview.mspx. The technology takes the SMS OS Deployment Feature Pack to the next level of hands-off deployment. The download includes an entire Help center, which documents the configuration steps. Some features that were included in the early zero-touch installation technology are now part of the SMS OS Deployment Feature Pack (e.g., the USMT integration).

Q. Does Microsoft offer any tools to help diagnose Windows Server 2003 performance problems?

A. Microsoft has released the Windows Server 2003 Server Performance Advisor--a tool designed to help troubleshoot Windows 2003 performance problems. Neither Windows XP nor Windows 2000 platforms support this tool. The tool is available at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=61a41d78-e4aa-47b9-901b-cf85da075a73&displaylang=en. After you download the tool, execute the .msi file and follow the onscreen prompts to perform the following steps: 1. Click Next to go to the "Welcome to the Server Performance Advisor Setup Wizard" introduction screen. 2. Click "I accept" on the license page, then click Next. 3. Accept the default installation location and select whether the tool will be used by just the person installing the tool or by all administrators, as the figure at http://www.windowsitpro.com/articles/images/servperfwiz1.gif shows. Click Next. 4. The wizard prompts you for a location for the temporary storage of performance log files. Accept the default--C:\perflogs\data location--and click Next. 5. Next, the wizard prompts you for a reports folder location. Again, accept the default location (C:\perfLogs) and click Next. Click Next to begin the installation. When the installation is finished, click Finish. You'll now have a new Start menu item, Server Performance Advisor, which you can use to start the advisor process.

Q. How can I use the Windows Server 2003 Performance Advisor?

A. After you install the Windows 2003 Performance Advisor, as explained in the FAQ "Does Microsoft offer any tools to help diagnose Windows Server 2003 performance problems?" start the program via its new Start menu Server Performance Advisor shortcut (spa.exe in the C:\program files\server performance advisor folder). You can also use the command-line tool, spacmd.exe, which lets you initiate many of the same actions as the GUI does. The Performance Advisor introduction screen, which the figure at http://www.windowsitpro.com/articles/images/spa1.gif shows, has several options: a tour, the ability to add or repair collector groups, and a link to the Help file. The Quick Tour option walks you through the steps for starting the data-collection process, logging the data, and creating a report that's based on the collected data. While the tool gathers the data, you'll see several CD-ROM icons in the task tray, as the figure at http://www.windowsitpro.com/articles/images/spa2.gif shows. When data collection is finished, you'll see a report icon in the task tray. You click the report icon to view the output of the process. This report highlights potential problem areas that the tool identified. Data-collector groups collect and report about data specific to certain areas of functionality. For example, by default you have data-collector groups called System Overview (a general health report of the overall system state), Active Directory, IIS, and File, which return reports specific to these areas. You can create additional data-collector groups by selecting Add/Repair Data Collector Groups from the File menu (or by using the link on the main welcome screen). These operations make available additional options such as Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM) and Print Spooler. Select Yes in the Add/Repair column to add the new group to your console, as the figure at http://www.windowsitpro.com/articles/images/spa3.gif shows. To run a report for a specific area, select its collector group in the left pane (the scope tree). If you don't see the scope tree, click the filing cabinet icon in the task tray (button "a" in the figure at http://www.windowsitpro.com/articles/images/spa4.gif). After you select a collector, for example Active Directory (AD) at "b" in the figure, click the Start button (the green arrow at "c" on the tool bar). The status bar will display the process and duration of the collection. After the collection process is finished, you can select the report icon from the task tray or select the Current item from the Reports leaf of the collector ("d" in the figure). When you select the Reports leaf, you'll see that the reports are grouped into computer, year, month, and date order. When you view the report, note the icons at the top of the report. They let you delete the report, view the Performance Monitor output that the tool captured, and other options. Notice in the figure at http://www.windowsitpro.com/articles/images/spa4.gif, you can also see the types of collection being performed (e.g., active_directory_perf, active_directory_reg). If you select any of these options, the details pane shows the details of what will be collected. Notice that the tool doesn't use performance counters only; it also uses registry keys and numerous traces. Performance Advisor has many other advanced features. For example, you can use the schedule capability to set a schedule to run a report every 30 minutes. These reports are set on a per-data-collector level. The tool's Help documentation is good. You should run this tool during a typical processing time to obtain a baseline report for the system so that when you experience a problem, you'll have benchmarks to compare with. You should find Performance Advisor a valuable addition to your toolkit.

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