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Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Creating a Windows 2008 R2 VM As a Template

Creating a Windows 2008 R2 Server VM As a template

The main objective is to build a deployable windows 2008 R2 template that is predictable and easy to manage. As you may know, I do not claim to be a Microsoft Server guy, but sometimes you just have to take the bull by the horns. The following procedure is what I have found to be the best for my environments. I am really pleased with the overall 2008 server performance for VMWare environments, especially with VMWare View 4.5 deployments.

Create VM, use VMXNET3 as NIC(s), 40GB “thin” disk, using 2008 R2 Wizard

I use ISO images and encourage their use. The size of the OS volume will end-up being somewhere around 8GB of actual space-on-disk after this step, making 40GB sound like overkill. However, the OS volume will bloat-up to 18-20GB pretty quick after updates, roles and feature additions. Adding application(s) will quickly chew-up the rest.
  • Edit Settings… ->
    • Options -> Advanced -> General -> Uncheck “Enable logging” * This is very important since the ISO will not be seen of checked - default is enabled *
    • Hardware -> CD/DVD Drive 1 ->
      • Click “Datastore ISO File”
        • Browse to Windows 2008 R2 ISO image
      • Check “Connect at power on”
    • Options -> Advanced -> Boot Options -> Force BIOS Setup
      • Check “The next time the virtual machine boots, force entry into the BIOS setup screen”
  • Power on VM
  • Install Windows Server 2008 R2

 

Setting Time Synchronization in VMWare Tools:

It is very important to have a solid mapping for the overall timing of the ESX environments from hosts to guests. The default for VMWare tools is not to time sync with ESX servers. As long as the same clock source is used for VM's and ESX hosts, all should be good.

To enable time sync with ESX Hosts
Open VMWare Tools:
  Options-> check the box "Time Synchronization between the virtual machine and ESX Server"

I prefer to enable this option since when I build these VM's I always make sure the ESX timing is engineered correctly.

Complete Initial Configuration Tasks:

Once the initial installation is complete, we need to complete the 2008 R2 basic configuration. If you are working in an AD environment, this is not the time to join the template to the domain as GPO conflicts may hinder manual template defaults. We’ve chosen a minimal package installation based on our typical deployment profile. Some features/roles may differ in your organization’s template (mix to taste).
  • Set time zone -> Date and Time ->
    • Internet Time -> Change Settings… -> Set to local time source
    • Date and Time -> Change time zone… -> Set to local time zone
  • Provide computer name and domain -> Computer name ->
    • Enterprise Edition: W2K8R2ENT-TMPL
    • Standard Edition: W2K8R2STD-TMPL
    • Foundation Edition: W2K8R2FND-TMPL
    • Note: Don’t join to a domain just yet…
  • Restart Later
  • Configure Networking
    • Disable QoS Packet Scheduler
  • Enable automatic updating and feedback
    • Manually configure settings
      • Windows automatic updating -> Change Setting… ->
        • Important updates -> “check for updates but let me choose whether to download and install them”
        • Recommended updates -> Check “Give me recommended updates the same way I receive important updates”
        • Who can install updates -> Uncheck “Allow all users to install updates on this computer”
      • Windows Error Reporting -> Change Setting… ->
        • Select “I don’t want to participate, and don’t ask me again”
      • Customer Experience Improvement Program -> Change Setting… ->
        • Select “No, I don’t want to participate”
  • Download and install updates
    • Bring to current (may require several reboots)
  • Add features (to taste)
    • .NET Framwork 3.5.1 Feautures
      • Check WCF Activation, Non-HTTP Activation
        • Pop-up: Click “Add Required Features”
    • SNMP Services
    • Telnet Client
    • TFTP Client
    • Windows PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE)
  • Check for updates after new features
    • Install available updates
  • Enable Remote Desktop
    • System Properties -> Remote
      • Windows 2003 AD
        • Select “Allow connections from computers running any version of Remote Desktop”
      • Windows 2008 AD (optional)
        • Select “Allow connections only from computers running Remote Desktop with Network Level Authentication”
  • Windows Firewall
    • Turn Windows Firewall on of off
      • Home or work location settings
        • Turn off Windows Firewall
      • Public network location settings
        • Turn off Windows Firewall
  • Complete Initial Configuration Tasks
    • Check “Do not show this window at logon” and close

Modify and Silence Server Manager

(Optional) Parts of this step may violate your local security policies, however, it’s more than likely that a GPO will ultimately override this configuration. We find it useful to have this disabled for “general purpose” templates – especially in a testing/lab environment where the security measures will be defeated as a matter of practice.
  • Security Information -> Configure IE ESC
    • Select Administrators Off
    • Select Users Off
  • Select “Do not show me this console at logon” and close

Modify Taskbar Properties

Making the taskbar usable for your organization is another matter of taste. We like smaller icons and maximizing desktop utility. We also hate being nagged by the notification area…
  • Right-click Taskbar -> Taskbar and Start Menu Properties ->
    • Taskbar -> Check “Use small icons”
    • Taskbar -> Customize… ->
      • Set all icons to “Only show notifications”
      • Click “Turn system icons on or off”
        • Turn off “Volume”
    • Start Menu -> Customize…
      • Uncheck “Use large icons”

Modify default settings in Control Panel

Some Control Panel changes will help “optimize” the performance of the VM by disabling unnecessary features like screen saver and power management. We like to see our corporate logo on server desktops (regardless of performance implications) so now’s the time to make that change as well.
  • Control Panel -> Power Options -> High Performance
    • Change plan settings -> Turn off the display -> Never
  • Control Panel -> Sound ->
    • Pop-up: “Would you like to enable the Windows Audio Service?” – No
    • Sound -> Sounds -> Sound Scheme: No Sounds
    • Uncheck “Play Windows Startup sound”
  • Control Panel -> VMware Tools -> Uncheck “Show VMware Tools in the taskbar”
  • Control Panel -> Display -> Change screen saver -> Screen Saver -> Blank, Wait 10 minutes
  • Change default desktop image (optional)
    • Copy your desktop logo background to a public folder (i.e. “c:\Users\Public\Public Pictures”)
    • Control Panel -> Display -> Change desktop background -> Browse…
    • Find picture in browser, Picture position stretch

Disable Swap File

Disabling swap will allow the defragment step to be more efficient and will disable VMware’s advanced memory management functions. This is only temporary and we’ll be enabling swap right before committing the VM to template.
  • Computer Properties -> Visual Effects -> Adjust for best performance
  • Computer Properties -> Advanced System Settings ->
    • System Properties -> Advanced -> Performance -> Settings… ->
    • Performance Options -> Advanced -> Change…
      • Uncheck “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives”
      • Select “No paging file”
      • Click “Set” to disable swap file

Disable indexing on C:

Indexing the OS disk can suck performance and increase disk I/O unnecessarily. Chances are, this template (when cloned) will be heavily cached on your disk array so indexing in the OS will not likely benefit the template. We prefer to disable this feature as a matter of practice.
  • C: -> Properties -> General ->
    • Uncheck “Allow files on this drive to have contents indexed in addition to file properties”
    • Apply -> Apply changes to C:\ only (or files and folders, to taste)

Housekeeping

Time to clean-up and prepare for a streamlined template. The first step is intended to aid the copying of “administrator defaults” to “user defaults.” If this does not apply, just defragment.
Remove “Default” user settings:
  • C:\Users -> Folder Options -> View -> Show hidden files…
  • C:\Users\Default -> Delete “NTUser.*” Delete “Music, Pictures, Saved Games, Videos”
Defragment
  • C: -> Properties -> Tools -> Defragment Now…
    • Select “(C:)”
    • Click “Defragment disk”

Copy Administrator settings to “Default” user

The “formal” way of handling this step requires a third-party utility. We’re giving credit to Jason Samuel for consolidating other bloggers methods because he was the first to point out the importance of the “unattend.xml” file and it really saved us some time. His blog post also includes a link to an example “unattend.xml” file that can be modified for your specific use, as we have.
  • Jason Samuel points out a way to “easily” copy Administrator settings to defaults, by activating the CopyProfile node in an “unattend.xml” file used by sysprep.
  • Copy your “unattend.xml” file to C:\windows\system32\sysprep
  • Edit unattend.xml for environment and R2 version
    • Update offline image pointer to correspond to your virtual CD
      • E.g. wim:d:… -> wim:f:…
    • Update OS offline image source pointer, valid sources are:
      • Windows Server 2008 R2 SERVERDATACENTER
      • Windows Server 2008 R2 SERVERDATACENTERCORE
      • Windows Server 2008 R2 SERVERENTERPRISE
      • Windows Server 2008 R2 SERVERENTERPRISECORE
      • Windows Server 2008 R2 SERVERSTANDARD
      • Windows Server 2008 R2 SERVERSTANDARDCORE
      • Windows Server 2008 R2 SERVERWEB
      • Windows Server 2008 R2 SERVERWEBCORE
      • Windows Server 2008 R2 SERVERWINFOUNDATION
    • Any additional changes necessary
  • NOTE: now would be a good time to snapshot/backup the VM
  • cmd: cd \windows\system32\sysprep
  • cmd: sysprep /generalize /oobe /reboot /unattend:unattend.xml
    • Check “Generalize”
    • Shutdown Options -> Reboot
  • Login
  • Skip Activation
  • Administrator defaults are now system defaults
  • Reset Template Name
    • Computer Properties -> Advanced System Settings -> Computer name -> Change…
      • Enterprise Edition: W2K8R2ENT-TMPL
      • Standard Edition: W2K8R2STD-TMPL
      • Foundation Edition: W2K8R2FND-TMPL
    • If this will be an AD member clone, join template to the domain now
    • Restart
  • Enable Swap files
    • Computer Properties -> Advanced System Settings ->
      • System Properties -> Advanced -> Performance -> Settings… ->
      • Performance Options -> Advanced -> Change…
        • Check “Automatically manage paging file size for all drives”
  • Release IP
    • cmd: ipconfig /release
  • Shutdown
  • Convert VM to template

Convert VM Template to Clone

Shut doiwn the VM and "Right-Click" Clone to template. I also like to use the Export utility to create a .OVF template on a file share as well.


Note: Procedures copied from the following "In The Lab" Blog. This is a very good information site, so please refer to link below. :I made a couple of modifications to fit my environment, but overll (90%) is from this guy.

http://solori.wordpress.com/2010/09/30/in-the-lab-windows-server-2008-r2-template-for-vmware/
Posted by Superdave at 9:41 AM

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