MDX sources

Dear reader, since my last posts i informed you about MDX and its workings.
in this post i proudly present the MDX sources.
In the link at the bottom of this post an .MSI can be found that will install MDX on a system. the .MSI will install the MDX script, the readme and the manual
The installation has been tested on Windows Server 2003 and Server 2008 R2. here is the readme:

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Welcome to MDX
This application is written in PowerShell, to successfully start it you need to have powershell (version 2.0 and up) installed on the machine you're installing to
At first launch your settings will not reflect the settings of your deployment environment. please take your time to set the settings of MDX. refer to the manual for detailed information and usage of MDX and its settings.
On PowerShell 2.0 some parts of MDX will not work; for instance the MDT Settings Extra Apps will not show when using PowerShell 2.0.
To get things started PowerShell needs to have its execution policy set to remotesigned or lower because this script is NOT signed. please refer to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee176961.aspx for more information about PowerShell signing
MDX will be installed to C:\Program Files\MDX by default, feel free to change that is you want to but always check its working after this.
MDX works with a few tools locally to get fully started. in the installation MSI some of these files are incorporated, they will be installed to its default locations. the extra files are:
    - MDXIcoon1.jpg
    - Manual MDX.docx
    - Readme.txt
PsExec from the PStools must be installed on the system, preferably on a path location from your SET.
link: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896649.aspx

The MDTDB from Michael Niehaus also is a MUST, the installation points to the C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules\MDTDB directory so you can best copy the module to that path.here is the link to Michaels blog:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/mniehaus/archive/2009/05/15/manipulating-the-microsoft-deployment-toolkit-database-using-powershell.aspx
MDX’s registry entries are set in the installation of the MSI, they can be changed in the settings tab of MDX.
MDX will connect to machines through WMI, for this mechanism to work in Windows Firewall enabled machines the following rule must be enabled in the network location profile
   
    - Windows Management Instrumentation (DCOM-In)
    - Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI-In)
Also MDX will try to ping machines; for this to work the following rule must be enabled on firewalled machines:
    - File and Printer Sharing (Echo Request - ICMPv4-In) (when using IPv4 traffic
    - File and Printer Sharing (Echo Request - ICMPv6-In) (when using IPv6 traffic
Last but not least: for the remote starting via PSExec the - Remote Desktop - User-In must be opened.
PsExec itself will require a litetouch user account that has to me member of the AD group "Remote Desktop Users"
For Wake on LAN to work the used Network segments must not prohibit WOL broadcasts. please do keep in mind WOL broadcasts cannot traverse Routers, so one MDT server can only service as much network segments it is connected to.
PXE control will only work under specific conditions. please refer to link: http://www.ithastobecool.com/2009/08/17/zerotouch-for-mdt-2010-without-sccm/
to get a clear understanding of this subject.
Happy deploy-ing
Bas Huygen
negyuh@xs4all.nl

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I hereby would like to thank the following technical documents and its writers:

• Michael Niehaus
• Mark Russinovich
• Andrew Barnes

Furthermore i would like to thank the following Colleagues for support and testing:

• Barry Mes
• Ylber Tahiri

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Download the MDX installers here:
  - x86: https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=12B72EEE2C1F9871!2587
   -x64: https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=12B72EEE2C1F9871!2588
Please note! this installer nor the PowerShell script has been signed; Smart screen filters will warn you about that fact! 
I am still working on a valid certificate…
The MDX manual can also be downloaded separately: https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=12B72EEE2C1F9871!2589
I fully understand that this is the first version, feel free to download this installer and use it, when you will find a bug or think MDX should definitely use a new feature; feel free to contact me at:
mdx@xs4all.nl
Happy deploying and till next time.

Introducing MDX

The last weeks is have not published anything since i was working on an IT solution i am introducing here on this page.
The next posts i will elaborate and present the code of my application, this is part 1: the introduction:
MDX stands for MDT Deployment eXerience. and it is a solution targeted at Microsoft OS deployment with MDT. So you can ask me; what does it do and, even more important, what does it add to MDT since that is quite a mature OSD solution in itself. my answer will be: MDT indeed is a very great OSD solution but it has its drawbacks. let me mention a few of them:

• The interface of MDT is quite cumbersome in respect to manipulating individual computer deployments.
• MDT does not have any functionality to automatically start a deployment on a client
• MDT needs ‘start-up media’ to get a deployment running like a CD or USB stick, although MDT can deliver a distribution via the network, it does not have any mechanism to control PXE servers

Because of these (and many more) drawbacks i decided to develop my own ‘shell’ around MDT and address these items.

So what does MDX do?

since i always think images speak louder then words I'll show you the interface.

As you can see the Application has its own GUI, in it there are a few input sections-, output sections and some buttons to get the whole thing running. MDX was built in PowerShell, the code for the GUI was generated by SAPIEN’s Primal Forms Community edition
MDX can do the following:

• On input of a computer name it will try to fetch a MAC address of the particular machine, if found it will use it to add- or find this machine in MDT and attach OSD properties to it to get it deployed
• MDX will show Computer information when the machine is online; this can be quite handy when you are to be migrating existing computers from say Windows XP to Windows 7 or 8
• MDX has a direct link with Microsoft's WDS servers, with this link it can control PXE boots of WDS clients
• MDX can wake a machine with Wake On LAN with one push on a button
• MDX can start a deployment remotely with the use of PS Exec.exe (a fine piece of toolkit developed by Mark Russinovich), with this it can completely automate MDT deployments to clients.
• MDX can add extra applications to a individual OS deployment- as well ass add an account to the local administrators group.

Al together i think it will add some nice features to MDT or as a colleague remarked “this is real automation with budget (freeware) tools!”
Next post i will elaborate on the technical workings of MDX, if all goes well i will present a download link to the source code.
till next time.

Crazy stuff in some logging

Doing some troubleshooting on a (Altiris) PXE server i found a weird line of code in a log:

 

 

i did a search and found this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexspeak

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dead%3Abeef  apparently this line of code is used in IPv6 communication

this also has another meaning: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_number_%28programming%29#Magic_debug_values apparently these codes were used in IBM RS6000 and the Original MAC OS. could this be some code was re-used? ...