Recently in Desktop & Systems Support Category

In addition to new equipment setups, my duties now include upgrading current faculty and staff machines across campus to Windows 7. UCS expects to have this migration complete by later this summer. The steps for migrating a machine to Windows 7 are similar to those for a new equipment setup. I've completed a few "practice" migrations on older equipment we have in storage, as well as a couple "real" migrations within our department. For my purposes, I've developed the following procedure.

Windows 7 Upgrade Procedure

1) Install Windows Easy Transfer:
- run T:\Windows Easy Transfer\XP\tfrcable.exe.le_x86.exe

2) Launch Windows Easy Transfer from All Programs. Follow these steps --
- On the first box, click "Next".
- Click "Use CD, DVD or other removable media".
- Click "External hard disk or network location".
- Browse to an H: or I: drive and enter the migration file name. Suggest naming the file with the user's login name, for example smithj_xp.mig. Click Next.
- Click "Advanced options".
- Un-check any profiles you don't want to migrate. and check the profile(s) to migrate. Within the intended profile(s), uncheck "Documents", but check "Desktop" and "Favorites" within the expanded "Documents" section. Leave everything else checked (default) within the indented profile.
- Expand "Files in other locations". You can usually un-check "Folders on drive C:", but leave "Include miscellaneous locations" checked (default).
- Click Next and wait for the file to be created.
- Once the migration file has been created, close Windows Easy Transfer.

3) Image the machine with Windows 7 and use the New PC Setup Checklist I've
developed, completing the items in order. After adding the group "studenttechs"
as local administrators, install any additional software.

4) Run the .MIG file created in step 2. The program will list the profile(s) you
selected in step 2, and any shared items selected. Leave these checked
(default), and click "Transfer". When the transfer is finished, click "Close" and
allow the software to restart the machine. Important: in order to run the .MIG file,
you must be logged in as a local administrator.

5) Complete the remaining items on the New PC Setup Checklist.

New PC Setup Checklist:

1) Clone with most current image.

2) Rename machine and reboot.

3) Activate Windows.

4) Bind machine to MASH.

5) Move machine to proper location in Active Directory.

6) Add STUDENTTECHS to local administrators group.

7) Check that Sophos has been installed. If not, then install manually.

8) Power options - high performance; monitor off after 45 minutes; never shut down hard drive.

9) DNS settings: Start Menu > Control Panel > Network and Internet >
Network and Sharing Center > Change adapter settings > right-click
Local Area Connection > Properties > double-click ...TCP/IPV4 > Advanced >
DNS > un-check Register this connection's address in DNS > click OK several
times to exit.

10) Add user(s) as local administrator(s).

11) Windows XP only -- Reset SUS Client ID.

12) Update BIOS to current version.

13) Windows Update: high priority, software and hardware.

14) Launch both IE and Firefox to test each browser.

15) Laptops only -- configure wireless.

Last week I was given a task to install Bi Query Admin for the Director of Budget and Payroll. I had previously only installed Bi Query User. He already had Bi Query User installed, so I decided to consult with the Banner Team. They were great help, as they contacted the OUS Banner Team for clarification of what needed to be done.

The recommendation I received was to first backup the queries on the existing Bi Query User installation, uninstall Bi Query User, then install a slightly older version of Bi Query that contained product keys for both the Admin and User modules. This approach appears to have worked. This strategy was necessary due to a bug within Bi Query that broke the software if the Admin module was installed in addition to the User module.

I just deployed a new Dell desktop for the Rice Auditorium Ticket office that was somewhat more involved than most setups. For this machine, I needed to move Virtual Merchant, the web-based mechanism for processing credit cards. This was simple, as this is just a link to a website. I also had to move an application called Box Office Xpress Junior, used to print tickets and manage ticket sales. As it turns out, all that was involved with this move was to install the application, then move the contents of a data folder contained within, from the old machine to the new. So far, all seems to work well.

I didn't know what to expect when migrating the Box Office application. Sometimes just overwriting things like this work very well; other times it doesn't. In the case of this application, their documentation was very scarce, so I'm pleased that all seems to have gone well thus far with this move.

In general, I enjoy the challenge of a setup that requires more detail, but I breathe a little sigh of relief when I complete these and things go smoothly.

Over the past week, I've deployed 27 laptops in total. Twenty were MacBook Pros for a cart at the College of Education, six were Dells for the Admissions Office and one was a Lenovo ThinkPad for a faculty member in Teaching Research. The Macs and Dells were pretty much "cookie-cutter" setups, so they were straightforward. The ThinkPad was ordered for a special-case need. I have to say that I was fairly impressed with the ThinkPad; it's a nice machine. It was interesting to work on something other than a Dell or Mac

Yes, this blog is about inventory -- a favorite subject for almost everyone.

As I was in a hurry to deploy as many new machines as possible during the fall, I let the inventory maintenance of the old equipment fall by the wayside. I'm now almost caught up with reconciling the old equipment, as I've whittled away at it a little each day for the past few weeks.

I've made a much more conscious effort the last few weeks to better manage this part of the record keeping. Even if I know I'll be meeting with the end user later to follow-up, I always try to bring their old equipment back to UCS and update inventory accordingly. This way, we have the equipment on our premises. When circumstances warrant the end user keeping old equipment while we finalize the details of new equipment setup, I always make sure to identify the equipment in their office or workarea and discuss with them our need to collect and process the old equipment. I'm working diligently to improve and streamline how I process the old equipment.

I recently completed a few new setups that required installation of BI-Query. It had probably been well over a year since I had last installed this, and I remembered the setup being a little complicated. Here are the steps for a successful setup.

1) Install Oracle for BI-Query. Run setup.exe from
T:\Oracle\DeveloperSuite10g\Oracle for Bi Query\Disk1.

2) Within the Oracle setup, the defaults should be fine. Be sure to select "Complete" for the installation type.

3) Copy the TNSNAMES.ORA file from the above path on the T: drive to the ..\NETWORK\ADMIN folder within the new Oracle installation.

4) Install Hummingbird BI-Query. Run setup.exe from
T:\Hummingbird\BI Query 9.02.
At the prompts, select English, BI-Query, Install BI-Query. The defaults should be fine for most of the options.

5) On the serial numbers and activation keys dialog, select "BI-Query User" only and copy-paste the serial number and activation key from the file wou_readme.txt from
T:\Hummingbird\BI Query 9.02.

This completes the installation of the software. I don't have permissions to connect BI-Query to the database (data models) on the J: drive. The Banner programmers have permissions to complete this part of the setup.

I've needed to install PL/SQL Developer on a couple of machines lately. Unfortunately, it seems I only install this every few months. As this is a little more involved than the standard one-minute setup for most applications, I thought a blog might be appropriate. Here are the steps I followed.

1) Copy the Oracle 10g Windows 32-bit zip file from the Oracle folder on the I: drive to the C: drive. Extract it after copying to the C: drive.
2) Run the setup program. Select "Custom" for the install type and select everything. Yes, this is overkill, but it will ensure the proper folder structure into which the TNSNAMES file will be copied. For the install location, type "c:\orahome" or something equally simple.
3) Copy the appropriate TNSNAMES.ORA file into the folder c:\orahome\network\admin.
4) Reboot.
5) Copy the PL/SQL Developer installer to the C: drive.
6) Run the PL/SQL Developer installer and select the defaults.
7) Reboot.
8) Launch PL/SQL Developer. Choose AERO_SUNDOWN and complete the registration. Test things by opening one of your packages (edit spec and body).

As of this afternoon, Monday, August 2, I have completed all new equipment setup tasks. I have two machines ready to be delivered; one of which I''m planning to deploy tomorrow morning; I'll deploy the other when I've made contact with the part-time faculty member.

In between setups, I've worked on several loose ends, as follows:

- I recovered the Office 2003 templates from a machine I had replaced, and copied them to the new machine. This person uses these heavily.
- I installed some testing software, which is highly proprietary, for two users in TRI for whom I had setup new machines.
- I installed Final Cut Pro for a faculty member in Theatre Arts. This was part of a large purchase. The Final Cut software installation takes a long time.
- I reghosted a machine in order to resolve a problem with Microsoft Outlook 2003, as the user wants to continue using that version.
- I added a local student user to a couple NetBooks I deployed a couple of weeks ago.
- Last week I installed six new machines for a lab in Natural Science. As the faculty member was out list week, I may need to take care of some loose ends later this week.

Over the last week or so, I've had a few setups that have been more involved than the average machine installation, so I've tried to spend a little time each day tying up some loose ends.

I installed a new machine in the Human Resources office that they use to generate identification cards. The setup of the old machine wasn't documented very well, so I've had to sort through some details. Basically, the setup consists of a digital camera and card printer connected to the computer, with a specialized application installed. I've kept the old machine in tact as I've worked on the new setup, so they haven''t had any down time.

I installed three new machines for faculty in the Teaching Research Institute. They use an application called TRACS to report data to the State. Installation of TRACS involves two parts: the TRACS application and a Citrix client, used for authentication purposes. Brian Witt was helpful as I sorted through this, as he had worked on this in the past.

I've also had the opportunity to work on a couple of Macs the last day or so. The first was a MacBook Pro 13. One of the techs will need to create a new image for this one, as it repeatedly insisted on being rebooted after I restored the latest DeployStudio image. This is most likely due to some change in hardware. I've also worked on another iMac setup for the Creative Arts sound recording studio. This one took the DeployStudio image just fine, and I have the machine ready to deploy. I hadn't worked on a Mac in at least three months, so I'm pleased that I had retained my knowledge of the details I need in order to complete a Mac setup.

I'm also working on the setup of about ten machines for the Bookstore. I'll coordinate these setups with Mike Ross.

Throughout my experience in IT and desktop support, I've gained an appreciation for keeping configurations reasonably current. In working on the deployment of new machines, I've tried to keep Ghost images fairly current. This makes the day-to-day deployments go much more smoothly. As anyone in IT knows, there is almost always something that can be updated.

As Bill Verant is now responsible for maintaining Ghost images, we've had opportunities to discuss this philosophy and put it into practice. Bill has recently completed a thorough update of the Ghost image for the Dell Optiplex 960. In practice, I've found that updating an image every 4-6 weeks is appropriate.

I also think it's important to have more than one person working with the images. In our case, Bill and I are both keeping an eye on the images, and we communicate very well about pertinent maintenance issues.

These are some things I've had on my mind lately.

Apple has recently made some changes to the offerings within their iMac lineup. I deployed several 20- and 24-inch models and I really like the crisp, clear display of the 24-inch iMac. New changes include new 21.5- and a 27-inch models, and the discontinuation of the 20- and 24-inch models. I've seen a couple of the 27-inch machines, and they are indeed very nice. I've deployed a few of the 21.5-inch iMacs and while they are nice, I wish Apple had kept the 24-inch model. Not only do I believe it was a good fit within the iMac lineup, but I also believe it had a little better display.

I've also had a chance to work with Apple's MacBook Pro lineup of laptops. The 13-inch model is great for mobility; the 17-inch has a very nice display but is much more bulky. The 15-inch model has the best of both worlds: portability with a nice display. I really like the look-and-feel of the MacBook Pro lineup; these have the best display of any laptop I've ever worked with, and I like the roomy keyboard. With the installation of Windows 7 alongside OS X, this would be a great platform.

Our mainstream Dell desktop these days is the Optiplex 960. Over the last six months or so, I've deployed many of these. We've recently had two new machines develop hardware issues that have needed replacement parts from Dell. About two days after being placed into service, one ended up needing a new processor (although the motherboard, memory and power supply were also replaces). The other machine needed a new motherboard, as the network adapter went bad. Thanks to Adam for his good work in repairing these.

I look forward to working with Bill Verant to enhance our procedures for preparing new machines for deployment. He and Richard are working on a new DeployStudio server to maintain Mac images, and Bill is working on some improvements to the ghosting process. Bill is now responsible for maintaining the ghost and DeployStudio images. As Bill's focus is the automation and streamlining of automated systems, maintenance of the images is an appropriate assignment.

Over the last few months, I have created images used for the deployment of new hardware that we have received.

● Dell Latitude E6500 Laptop -- Ghost image
● Dell Optiplex 760 Desktop -- Ghost image
● Apple iMac with 24-Inch Display -- DeployStudio image

I've always enjoyed installing the applications and working through the configuration changes necessary in creating an image for new hardware.

Also, when we received the first Latitude E4300 laptop, I was able to use the existing Ghost image for the E6400 model (as the hardware is very similar). This saved some time.

I have moved back to ITC and have been reassigned to the Desktop/Systems Support area within UCS. Brian Witt and I have been meeting on a regular basis for training and general orientation. Yesterday, Brian gave a demonstration of the Microsoft Active Directory system that we use. This is an integral component in our vast array of tools and utilities, as it is one key layer in our security plan.

My primary role in my new position is the setup and installation of new equipment. I will be using Active Directory to add new machines and remove old ones from the MASH domain. A major goal of our area is to clean up Active Directory, removing old machines that are no longer in use.