Monthly Archives: January 2011

Enable DebugLogging and Verbose logging on sccm clients

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I’m working with SCCM and needed to troubleshoot some client items with task sequences.


Enabling Debug and Verbose Logging


To enable debug logging after installation, create the following registry key:
HKLMSOFTWAREMicrosoftCCMLoggingdebuglogging


To enable verbose logging after installation, change the following value to 0.  You will need to right click on the @Global key and change permissions to allow the current user to change the data in the key.
HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftCCMLogging@GlobalLoglevel


64 bit boxes
—————-
HKLMSoftwareWow6432NodeMicrosoftCCM .


32 bit boxes
—————-
HKLMSoftwareMicrosoftCCM


Reference links






  • http://blogs.msdn.com/b/gabeb/archive/2008/08/06/enabling-debug-and-verbose-logging-in-configmgr-2007.aspx


  • http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb892800.aspx (complete list of log files)


  • http://blogs.msdn.com/b/steverac/archive/2009/11/06/sccm-forcing-a-task-sequence-to-rerun.aspx (good stuff!)

Webfarm and IIS configuration tips/tricks

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I was recently talking with some good friends about tips for performance and what an IIS Administrator could do on the server side.  I also see this question from time to time in the forums @ http://forums.iis.net.    Of course, you should test individual settings in a controlled environment while performing load testing before just implementing on your production farm. 




  • IIS Compression enabled (both static and dynamic if possible, set it to 9)  If you are running IIS 6, check this article out by Scott Forsyth.


  • Run FRT for long running pages (Failed Request Tracing)


  • Sql Connection pooling in code




  • Look at load testing using visual studio load testing tools


  • Log parser finding long running pages.  Here is a couple examples


  • Look at CPU, Memory and disk counters.  Make sure the server has enough resources.


  • Same machineKey account across all same nodes


  • Localize content vs. using UNC based content on a single server (My UNC tag with great posts)


  • Content expiration


  • ETAG’s the same across all web-farms


  • Disable Scalable Networking Pack


  • Use YSlow or Developer tools in Chrome to help measure the client experience improvements.

Additionally, some basic counters in for measuring applications is: I would recommend checking out the Chapter 17 in IIS 7 Resource kit. it was one of the chapters I authored. ?




  • Concurrent Connections, 


  • Request Per / Sec,


  • Request Queued. 

I strongly suggest testing one change at a time to see how it helps improve your performance.  Hopefully this post provides a few options to review in your environment.  


Cheers,


Steve Schofield
Windows Server MVP – IIS
http://weblogs.asp.net/steveschofield
 
http://www.IISLogs.com
Log archival solution
Install, Configure, Forget

Using SCCM to publish a powershell script via a Package / Program / Advertisement

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I was recently trying to publish a powershell script via an SCCM Package / Program / Advertisement.  My ‘bingfu’ and ‘googlefu’ was not working.  I asked on the absolute best SCCM listserv run by http://myitforum.com (Rod Trent and company).  Todd Hemsell provided the link below which was doing EXACTLY what I wanted. 


http://www.patricktowles.com/2010/10/running-powershell-scripts-as.html


Of course, there is more to the story.   However, my script was not working.  I kept getting Error Code 1 in the execmgr.log on the client.   One of the things unique to my environment is all servers are x64.  SCCM client runs as 32 bit, which in turns run (x86) powershell, which resides below the c:windowssysWOW64 folder.   We have scripts required to be AllSigned and set in the Group Policy administrative template.  The GPO only sets the AllSigned on the 64 bit powershell I later found out.  I manually set the execution policy (Set-ExecutionPolicy) to All Signed.  Here is the registry entry to set.


HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREWow6432NodeMicrosoftPowerShell1ShellIdsMicrosoft.PowerShell


You can set this setting via Preferences in Group Policy or manually set on the machine running Set-ExecutionPolicy within the (x86) powershell window to AllSigned  Thanks to Todd and the list for putting me on the right track.  Hopefully this helps someone else and what is %~dp0%1 (only syntax a programmer would love) :))))


Cheers,


Steve Schofield
Microsoft MVP – IIS