March 14 2010 11:08 AM

ConfigMgr Collection Query to find Systems with a Windows service installed (or not installed)

Here's a ConfigMgr 2007 collection query I've been using to find Systems without an OpsMgr 2007 agent installed. This query will show you systems with the System Center Management service (HealthService) installed select SMS_R_SYSTEM.ResourceID,SMS_R_SYS

March 12 2010 8:12 PM

Script Tip: Equivalent of the 'sleep' batch command for Windows 2008

I was writing some simple automation sequences for a user demonstration and realized that the sleep command present on most versions of Windows is missing from Windows Server 2008. So, I found myself in need of an alternative. I bit of digging around, I

March 10 2010 10:01 PM

Virtual System Center Part 2: Guidance on Dynamic VHDs (Thin Provisioning) for Production Workloads

The answer on dynamic virtual hard disks (or thin provisioning, in VMware terms) has become more nuanced over time. A few years ago, the answer was "not for production workloads". As with many situations, the answer today is "it depends". In part 1 of th

March 09 2010 2:02 AM

Essentials 2010 Virtualization Management: PRO Tips in SCE 2010

In a previous post, we looked at how System Center Essentials 2010 leverages SCVMM 2008 R2 functionality to perform a virtual-to-virtual (V2V) conversion of VMware guests (see Test: Essentials 2010 Virtualization Management: Converting VMware Guests to H

March 07 2010 5:18 PM

OpsMgr: Download Location of all the Dell 4.0 Management Packs (Server, Client, PRO, Printer and StorageArray)

Just bookmarking these for future reference. The Dell Storage Array MP 4.0 was released in January, meaning all Dell management packs have an updated MP now. Putting together some notes on Dell 4.0 tuning experience now... Download Locations Dell 4.0 Ser

March 05 2010 12:22 PM

Essentials 2010 Job Aid: Verbose List of WSUS Error Codes

I find having a list of these codes is a must have when troubleshooting update and deployment issues with Essentials 2010. I have seen it posted in a few different places, but here is the original source: Eric Brodish[MSFT] posted a verbose list of WSUS

March 01 2010 9:34 PM

Tip: System Center Essentials 2010 Console Shortcut Keys

If you're working with System Center Essentials 2010 and have not yet gotten comfortable with the shortcut keys, they are nice for those of us who prefer the keyboard over the mouse. Here is a list of the Essentials 2010 keyboard shortcuts to streamline

February 26 2010 1:06 PM

AVIcode Recognized in New Magic Quadrant for Application Performance Monitoring

I am big fan of Avicode and just received the following announcement. This is well-deserved recognition for what is truly an excellent tool for modeling application behavior and drilling down into performance hotspots. Our congrats go to everyone the AVI

February 22 2010 8:48 PM

How to Identify your Windows 2008 Version and Hyper-V Compatibility (SKUs and Retrieval Methods)

I was working on a System Center project, needed to retrieve this info, and found some info on MSDN about how to query Windows 2008 Operating System SKUs. In this case, i was checking for Hyper-V compatibility, but no doubt you may want this info for oth

February 20 2010 2:05 AM

How to list and query for installed hotfixes with PowerShell

By request of Mattie, here is some PowerShell on how to query hotfixes installed on a computer, as well as script to connect to a list of remote computers to determine whether or not a hotfix is installed. List all installed hotfixes on local machine Get