Step-by-Step Build A FREE System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 Lab in The Cloud - KeithMayer
Step-by-Step Build A FREE System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 Lab in The Cloud - KeithMayer
Step-by-Step Build A FREE System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 Lab in The Cloud - KeithMayer
com
Be an Early Expert in Hybrid Cloud – Microsoft Azure, Azure Stack, Windows Server 2016,
Hyper-V and System Center 2016
UPDATE: Now includes System Center 2012 SP1 CU2 along with the following new
articles …
Build a System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 Cloud Distribution Point
using Windows Azure Infrastructure Services by Kevin Remde
Guided Hands-On Lab: Enable BYOD Management with System Center 2012 SP1
and Windows Intune by Keith Mayer
System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 ( “ConfigMgr 2012 SP1” ) offers lots of
great new capabilities for IT Pros, but building a lab to evaluate, test and study ConfigMgr
can be challenging if you don’t have spare hardware capacity in your data center. In this
Step-by-Step Guide, I’ll walk through the steps that I used to build my ConfigMgr 2012 SP1
demo and study lab in the cloud on the Windows Azure platform.
This makes a great scenario for leveraging our Windows Azure FREE Trial Offer to build
your lab environment for FREE in the cloud. Using the configuration outlined in this article,
you’ll be able to build a functional lab environment that will be accessible during the free
trial period. After the free trial period is over, you can choose if you’d like to convert to a
full paid subscription. If you choose to convert to a paid subscription, this lab environment
will cost approximately $0.45 USD per hour of compute usage ( that’s right – just 45 cents
per hour ) plus associated storage and networking costs ( which can typically be less than $10
USD per month for a lab of this nature ). These estimated costs are based on published Pay-
As-You-Go pricing for Windows Azure that is current as of this article’s date.
NOTE: If you are testing advanced ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 scenarios and need more resources
than available in the lab configuration below, you can certainly scale-up or scale-out
elastically by provisioning larger VMs or additional VMs for distributed site system
roles. To determine the specific costs associated with higher resource levels, please visit the
Windows Azure Pricing Calculator for Virtual Machines.
Lab Scenario
In this Step-by-Step Guide, you will be provisioning a stand-alone ConfigMgr 2012 SP1
primary site server that is joined to an Active Directory domain.
This lab scenario will also serve as the basis for future Step-by-Step Guides where we’ll be
expanding the configuration to encompass additional site system roles and capabilities.
In ConfigMgr 2012, a stand-alone primary site can support up to 100,000 clients. If you are
testing a lab configuration that will need to scale beyond 100,000 clients when deployed in
production, see Site and Site System Role Scalability for details on the supported scalability
limits when choosing an alternate lab topology.
Prerequisites
NOTE: When activating your FREE Trial for Windows Azure, you will be prompted
for credit card information. This information is used only to validate your identity
and your credit card will not be charged, unless you explicitly convert your FREE
Trial account to a paid subscription at a later point in time.
In addition to the prerequisites above, this step-by-step guide also assumes that the
reader is already somewhat familiar with installing and using prior versions of System
Center Configuration Manager in an on-premises deployment.
DO IT: For a primer on System Center 2012 SP1 Configuration Manager, be sure to
watch our What’s New in System Center 2012 SP1 Configuration Manager video
series.
In this Step-by-Step Guide, you will complete the following exercises to configure a System
Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 stand-alone primary site server as a cloud-based lab
on the Windows Azure platform:
In this exercise, you will provision a new Windows Azure VM to run a Windows Server
2012 on the Windows Azure Virtual Network provisioned in the prior Step-by-Step Guides
listed above in the Prerequisites section of this article.
1. Sign in at the Windows Azure Management Portal with the logon credentials used
when you signed up for your Free Windows Azure Trial.
2. Select Virtual Machines located on the side navigation panel on the Windows Azure
Management Portal page.
3. Click the +NEW button located on the bottom navigation bar and select Compute |
Virtual Machines | From Gallery.
4. In the Virtual Machine Operating System Selection list, select Windows Server 2012
Datacenter and click the button.
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Virtual Machine Name: XXXlabcm01 ( where XXX is replaced with your unique
initials )
New Password and Confirm Password fields: Choose and confirm a new local
Administrator password.
Note: It is suggested to use secure passwords for Administrator users and service
accounts, as Windows Azure virtual machines could be accessible from the Internet
knowing just their DNS. You can also read this document on the Microsoft Security
website that will help you select a secure password:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/passwords-create.aspx.
– Storage Account: Select the Storage Account defined in the Getting Started steps
from the Prerequisites section above.
7. On the Virtual Machine Options page, click the button to begin provisioning the
file and location.
As the new virtual machine is being provisioned, you will see the Status column on
the Virtual Machines page of the Windows Azure Management Portal cycle through
several values including Stopped, Starting (Provisioning), and Running
(Provisioning). When provisioning for this new Virtual Machine is completed, the
Status column will display a value of Running and you may continue with the next
exercise in this guide.
8. After the new virtual machine has finished provisioning, click on the name (
XXXlabcm01 ) of the new Virtual Machine displayed on the Virtual Machines page
of the Windows Azure Management Portal to open the virtual machine dashboard
page for XXXlabcm01.
9. On the virtual machine dashboard page for XXXlabcm01, click the Attach button
located on the bottom navigation toolbar and select Attach Empty Disk. Complete
the following fields on the Attach an empty disk to the virtual machine form:
– Name: XXXlabcm01-data01
– Size: 50 GB
Click the button to create and attach the a new virtual hard disk to virtual machine
file and location.
XXXlabcm01.
You have completed the initial provisioning of a new virtual machine running Windows
Server 2012 on the Windows Azure cloud platform.
In this exercise, you will prepare this virtual machine with the prerequisites needed to
successfully install System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 later in this Step-by-
Step Guide.
1. On the virtual machine details page for XXXlabcm01, click the Connect
button located on the bottom navigation toolbar and click the Open button to
launch a Remote Desktop Connection to the console of this virtual machine.
2. Logon at the console of your virtual machine with the local Administrator
credentials defined in Exercise 1 above.
3. Wait for the Server Manager tool to launch before continuing with the next
step.
2. In the Server Manager window, format the disk attached in Exercise 1 above by
launching the Computer Management tool from the Tools menu located on the top
navigation bar.
2. When prompted with the Initialize Disk dialog box, click the OK button to
continue.
3. Right-click on the unallocated disk space on Disk 2 and select New Simple
Volume… from the pop-up menu.
4. In the New Simple Volume Wizard, click the Next button on each page to
accept all default values.
5. Click the Finish button on the last page of the wizard to create a new E:
volume.
6. When the new volume has finished the formatting process, close the Computer
Management window.
3. Using the Server Manager tool, join the Virtual Machine to the contoso.com Active
Directory domain.
1. In the Server Manager tool, click Local Server in the left navigation pane to
navigate to the Local Server page.
2. On the Local Server page, click the WORKGROUP link to launch the System
Properties dialog box.
3. On the Computer Name tab of the System Properties dialog box, click the
Change… button to launch the Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box.
4. In the Computer Name/Domain Changes dialog box, click the Domain: radio
button and type contoso.com in the text field. Click the OK button.
5. In the Windows Security dialog box, type the Domain Administrator login
credentials ( such as [email protected] )that you used when
configuring this domain in the prior Step-by-Step Guides listed in the
Prerequisites section of this article. Click the OK button to authenticate to the
domain.
6. Once the domain join has been successfully completed, you will see a message
box stating “Welcome to the contoso.com domain.” Click the OK button
twice, then click the Close button to close the System Properties dialog box.
7. When prompted, click the Restart Now button to restart the virtual machine.
Monitor the restart progress of the virtual machine on the Virtual Machines
page of the Windows Azure Management Portal. When the restart has
completed, the virtual machine status will display Running. You may then
continue with the next step in this exercise.
1. Select Virtual Machines located on the side navigation panel on the Windows
Azure Management Portal page.
3. Click the Connect button on the bottom page navigation toolbar to open a
Remote Desktop session to this virtual machine.
5. Using the Server Manager tool, disable Internet Explorer Enhanced Security.
1. In the Server Manager tool, click on Local Server in the left navigation pane
and select IE Enhanced Security Configuration.
2. Turn off enhanced security for Administrators and click the OK button.
6. Using the Server Manager tool, install the required Windows Server 2012 Roles and
Features.
1. In the Server Manager tool, click Manage on the top left menu bar and then
select Add Roles and Features from the drop-down menu to launch the Add
Roles and Features Wizard.
2. In the Add Roles and Features Wizard dialog box, click the Next button four
times to advance to the Select Features page.
3. On the Select Features page, check the checkboxes for the following features
and sub-features, leaving all other options at the default checkbox state:
– .NET Framework 4.5 with both HTTP Activation and TCP Activation
selected.
Whenever prompted during the feature selection process above, click the Add
Features button to add all features that are required for a select feature or sub-
feature option.
4. On the IIS Web Server Role Services page, check the checkboxes for the
following options, leaving all other options at their default checkbox state:
5. Click the Next button and then click the Install button to begin the feature
installation.
6. When the feature installation has completed, click the Close button to close
the Add Roles and Features Wizard.
7. Using Internet Explorer from within the virtual machine remote desktop session,
download the required software installation bits.
NOTE: If using System Center 2012 R2, the ADK for Windows 8.1 is
required instead.
NOTE: Be sure to download all of the installation bits above, as they will also
be leveraged in your cloud-based lab environment for future Step-by-Step
Guides that build upon this base configuration.
8. Prepare Active Directory for System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1.
1. Double-click on E:\installfiles\SC2012_SP1_RTM_SCCM_SCEP.exe to
extract the downloaded installation bits for ConfigMgr 2012 SP1.
2. Extend the Active Directory Schema with the ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 schema
extensions by running the following command from a Command Prompt
window:
E:\installfiles\SC2012_SP1_RTM_SCCM_SCEP\SMSSETUP\
BIN\X64\extadsch.exe
After running this command, review the log output located in C:\extadsch.log
to confirm that the schema extension operations were successfully completed.
3. Using the Active Directory Users and Computers tool from the domain
controller virtual machine remote desktop console ( XXXlabad01 ), setup the
required Active Directory permissions and objects.
On the Security tab, add the Active Directory computer account for
the ConfigMgr site server ( XXXlabcm01 ) to the Groups or user
names list and assign Full Control permissions to it.
Create the following domain user accounts for SQL Server and
ConfigMgr site system roles:
4. After completing the Active Directory preparation tasks above, close the
remote desktop connection to virtual machine XXXlabad01 and re-establish a
remote desk connection to XXXlabcm01.
9. At the remote desktop console of virtual machine XXXlabcm01, install SQL Server
2012 database engine and reporting services instances.
1. Double-click the downloaded SQL Server 2012 ISO file located in the
E:\installfiles folder to mount this ISO as a new F: drive letter.
3. In the SQL Server 2012 Installation Center window, click the Installation
link located in the left navigation pane.
4. In the SQL Server 2012 Installation Center window, click New SQL Server
stand-alone installation or add features to an existing installation in the
right content pane. This will launch the SQL Server 2012 Setup program.
5. In the SQL Server 2012 Setup program, use the OK and Next buttons as
appropriate to navigate through the installation wizard and set the following
installation property values when prompted:
As you are navigating through the Setup Wizard, accept all other default
values. When ready, click the Install button to install SQL Server 2012.
6. When the SQL Server 2012 installation is completed, close the Installation
Center window if it is still open.
10. Install the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit ( ADK ) for Windows 8.
2. When prompted during the setup process, select the following components to
install:
11. Exclude the D: volume as a location for ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 files.
The XXXlabcm01 virtual machine is now prepared for installing System Center 2012
Configuration Manager with Service Pack 1.
In this exercise, you will install System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 on virtual
machine XXXlabcm01 and configure it as a stand-alone primary site server.
1. Launch the System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1 installation by running
the following command:
E:\installfiles\SC2012_SP1_RTM_SCCM_SCEP\SMSSETUP\BIN\X
64\setup.exe
2. Navigate through the installation wizard by clicking the OK and Next buttons as
appropriate. When prompted for the following information, use the values supplied
below:
3. After supplying the values listed in Step 2 above, wait for the installation to complete.
4. UPDATE: Download and install the following updates for System Center
2012 Configuration Manager SP1:
– Cumulative Update 2 ( KB 2854009 )
5. When the installation has completed, launch the Configuration Manager Console
from the Windows Start Screen.
Completed!
The installation and configuration of a new System Center 2012 Configuration Manager SP1
stand-alone primary site server running on Windows Azure is now complete.