Sites Environment Updates: January 2009

Friday, January 30, 2009

Changes to the environment 01/30/09

* Added new task sequences to MDT. Their names are V_SP1_SC_CAP_01 and
V_SP1_SC_DEP_01.

* Added a new deployment point for Showcase Vista image. It is called
Showcase_DP.

* Deployed Hawth's Tools and ET GeoTools ArcGIS 9.3 extension site wide.

|-------------------------|
| William Winston |
| Campus Computing Sites |
| University of Michigan |
|-------------------------|

Mathematica Outage and resolution

Mathematica suffered an outage on Sites PC's today due to a failed update of the program in SoftGrid. Some machines may have displayed broken shortcuts or empty Start Menu folders.

I have written a startup script that should remove Mathematica from the SoftGrid cache on reboot. This was tested and deployed Sites wide.

matt r
--
---------------------------------------
Matthew R. Ranville
University of Michigan
LS&A class of '95
Campus Computing Sites, Windows Team
---------------------------------------

Thursday, January 22, 2009

ccs-'08-'09-CONIME.EXE-fix GPO retired

The following ccs-'08-'09-CONIME.EXE-fix GPO for Sites Vista systems was deleted. The GPO was implemented during Fall Term to fix an issue where VirusScan incorrectly recognized the file conime.exe as a virus and deleted it. The GPO is no longer needed because an updated version of VirusScan resolved the issue.

Terry Miller

Campus Computing Sites

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Mac Updates 2009-01-21

We’ve made the following changes in our Mac environment:

Two Apple software updates have been deployed:
- Digital Camera RAW Compatibility Update 2.4
- QuickTime 7.6
The XCode documentation sets have been updated with new content.
Microsoft Silverlight 2.0 is now deployed to all full-use Macs.

Firewall exception for XMing

* Added a firewall exception for the executable Q:\xming_69031\xming.exe
in ccs-'08-'09-vista-settings. This will allow XMing to run with out
prompting a user with a firewall exception.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Mac Updates 2009-01-20

We’ve made the following changes to our Mac environment:

Colloquy has been updated to version 2.2.
DivX has been updated to version 2.2.
StuffIt Expander has been updated to version 13.0.3

Modified OSD files for Open Office 3.0

I changed the OSD files of the Open Office softgrid files to have the software open as a "win16" application as opposed to a "win32" application, which now allows the software to launch successfully.

Jill

ArcGIS Maps Deployment Reactivated on Sites Vista PC's

The deployment of ArcGIS map content via the ccs-'08-'09-arcgis-9.3-maps was reactivated. The link for the GPO was disabled on 1/15 to allow troubleshooting and remediation of power management issues on the Vista lab loadset.

Terry Miller

Sites PC Team

Modify permission added for ccs-jakrick on sequences$ share

* The ccs-jakrick user account has modify permission on
adsroot.itcs.umich.edu\sites\sequence$ share. This will allow Jill to
make updates and changes to this share as needed.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Digital Signage Testing in Angell Hall Classrooms A, B, & D

A number of changes were made to Vista systems in Angell Hall Classrooms A, B, and D:

1. Four Winds Interactive Content Player software 3.2 was installed and then uninstalled.

2. Four Winds Interactive Content Player software 3.3 was installed.

Content Player 3.3 remains on the systems, but the Content Player Service is set to disabled.

Terry Miller
Campus Computing Sites

Friday, January 16, 2009

Changes to Angell Hall Classroom PC's

In preparation for testing of digital signage software in the Angell Hall Classrooms, the following changes were made:

1. The following directories were deleted from stations in classrooms A, B, and D:

- C:\Program Files\Fourwinds Interactive
- C:\Program Files\Signage
- C:\Program Files\SignageSettings

2. The timeout to put the display in standby mode was set to 7200 seconds.

3. The timeout to activate the logout screensaver was set to 7200 seconds.

4. The membership of the local administrators group was modified.

5. The group Authenticated Users was granted the "Access this computer from the network" system privilege.

Change number one was implemented via the ccs-digital-signage-011609-remove-old-signage-directories GPO.

Changes two through five were implemented via the ccs--digital-signage-011609-signage-settings GPO.

Terry Miller
Campus Computing Sites

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Changes to Vista Power Configuration

Several changes were made to the power configuration on Sites Vista Systems.

Modifications were made to the ccs-'08-'09-Power-Settings GPO as follows:

* The System Hibernate (Plugged In) Timeout was set to 0. The effect of this change is that the station should not hibernate.

* The System Sleep (Plugged In) Timeout was set to 0. The effect of this change is that the station should not sleep.

A new scheduled task was implemented to disable hibernation. The scheduled task runs the command "powercfg.exe -H OFF". The effect of this change is to disable hibernation and remove the hiberfile.sys file. The scheduled task was implemented in a new GPO - ccs'08-'09-disable-hibernation.

Terry Miller
Campus Computing Sites

January Windows updates and Mathematica 6.0.1 deployed

* WSUS updates for January '09 approved for a site wide deployment. The
deployment to our workstations will begin tonight. The deployment to our
servers will take place either Friday or Monday. Below is a list of the
updates.

- Update for Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 Junk Email Filter (KB959141)
- Security Update for Windows XP (KB958687)
- Security Update for Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition (KB958687)
- Security Update for Windows Server 2003 for Itanium-based Systems
(KB958687)
- Security Update for Windows Server 2003 (KB958687)
- Security Update for Windows Vista (KB958687)
- Security Update for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems (KB958687)
- Security Update for Windows Server 2003 (KB956803)
- Security Update for Windows XP (KB956803)
- Security Update for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (KB952069)
- Update for Windows Mail Junk E-mail Filter [January 2009] (KB905866)
- Update for Windows Mail Junk E-mail Filter for x64-based Systems
[January 2009] (KB905866)
- Update for Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Junk Email Filter (KB959140)

* Mathematica 6.0.1 deploy site wide. This deployment will hopefully
give us the ability to remove the shortcuts for this application in the
near future.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

ArcMaps 9.3 Deployed Site wide 1/14/09

* StreetMaps 9.3 for ArcGIS 9.3 is being deployed using the GPO
ccs-'08-'09-arcgis-9.3-maps.

* USA maps 9.3 for ArcGIS 9.3 is being deployed using the GPO
ccs-'08-'09-arcgis-9.3-maps.

* ccs-'08-'09-arcgis-9.3-maps was set to enabled earlier today.

Server Added to Production SoftGrid Cluster

The SoftGrid Virtual Application Server service was enabled on the server ccs-av01, and the server was activated in the softgrid.ccs.itd.umich.edu Network Load Balancing Cluster. The server was previously removed from the cluster for systems maintenance issues.

Terry Miller

Campus Computing Sites

Configuration Changes to CCS-AV01

The following configuration changes were made to the server ccs-av01 on 1/13/2009 in confjuction with a Microsoft Product Support incident:

- The Microsoft System Update Readiness Tool (KB947821) was applied to the server.

- The user account ccs-tsmiller took ownership of the \Windows\Servicing\Packages directory and was granted full control to that directory.

- Several files required for the Windows Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition (KB955839) were manually copied to the \Windows\Servicing\Packages directory.

Following the completion of the Microsoft Product Support incident, the following updates were applied via Windows Update:

- Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool x64 - January 2009 (KB890830)

- Security Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition (KB958687)

Terry Miller

Campus Computing Sites

Digital Signage Content Player Uninstall in AHA Classrooms

The link for the ccs-digital-signage-content-player-install has been disabled on the SP2\ahaclass OU. This will trigger an uninstall of the Four Winds Interactive Content Player application during the next reboot for systems in the ahaclass OU.

Terry Miller

Campus Computing Sites

Monday, January 12, 2009

Updates to the lab environment 1/12/09

* Modified ArcGIS 9.3 install script. Changed variable that for the
location of the 9.2 maps such that it points to their exact directory.
The change was needed because the 9.3 maps use a similar directory
structure.

* Modified Flash 10 Plug-in and Active X install scripts to use a
condition. This will prevent the install from running on a restart.

Friday, January 9, 2009

SSH Secure Shell Deployed to Sites Vista Systems

The SSH Secure Shell package was deployed to Sites Vista systems via SoftGrid.

Terry Miller

Campus Computing Sites

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Changes to Rhinoceros Deployment

The following changes were made to the Rhinoceros deployment on Sites Vista PC’s in the Angell Hall and Architecture Sites:

1. The V-Ray Render Plug-in for Rhinoceros was deployed via the ccs-'08-'09-V-Ray_1.05.03-software GPO to the Angell Hall and Architecture sites.

2. A firewall program exception for rhino4.exe was added to the ccs-'08-'09-vista-settings GPO. The firewall exception is required to enable communication of the VRay network license manager.

3. The method used to keyserve Rhino was modified to correct an issue where Rhinoceros failed to install on a newly reloaded system. Previously, a keyed copy of rhino4.exe was deployed using a Group Policy file preference item in the ccs-'08-'09-Rhino-keyed-exe-deployment GPO. The method deploys the keyed rhino4.exe via the Rhino 4 install script in the ccs-'08-'09-Rhino3D_SR4_Software GPO.

Terry Miller

Campus Computing Sites

PCTex now in only one place in Start Menu

We have removed the shortcut for PCTex in the folder Math & Statistics.
This program will now only appear in Web & Desktop Publishing.

SoftGrid Virtual Application Service Disabled on CCS-AV01

The SoftGrid Virtual Application Service was disabled on ccs-av01 to enable troubleshooting of some SoftGrid issues.

Terry Miller

Campus Computing Sites

Changes to PC environment 1/07/08

* Deployed a scheduled task that cleans up the WMI Respository when an
Event ID 1091 appear in the event viewer.

* Removed Open Office 2.4.1

* Removed Stella v9

* Removed NetLogon 4.0.3

* Removed SSH Secure Shell 3.2.9

* Deploy Mathematica 6.0.3

* Removed Mathematica 6.0.1

|-------------------------|
| William Winston |
| Campus Computing Sites |
| University of Michigan |
|-------------------------|

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

VRay License Manager Installed on CCS-AV02

A license manager for the VRay Rhinoceros plugin was installed on CCS-AV02. The service name is VRAYLicenseManager. The service listens on port 30305.

The license manager implementation is documented here:

https://webservices.itcs.umich.edu/mediawiki/sites/index.php/VRay

Terry Miller

Campus Computing Sites

Shortcut and Start Menu changes to Virtual Sites Advanced Statistics machines

I have enabled the part of the startup script for the Advanced
Statistics Virtual Sites Machines that removes the old shortcuts for
those programs.

To recap: the programs previously had shortcuts in two places, and will
now have shortcuts only in the Advanced Statistics folder. Old shortcuts
were under Course Software on the Virtual Sites machines dedicated to Stats.

The affected programs are:
- HLM 6.0.6
- Sudaan 9.0.3
- Lisrel 8.5
- Mplus 5
- Minitab 15
- Wordsmith 5
- nQuery Advisor 7.0
- Nvivo 8

Users who cannot find these programs in the menu should make sure to
check the Advanced Statistics folder in the Programs menu.

This change will take effect the next time these machines reboot and
process startup scripts.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Update Installed on CCS-AV01

The following update was installed on CCS-AV01:

System Update Readiness Tool for x64 based systems (KB947821).

This update is intended to correct problems with Windows Update on Windows Server 2008. Following the installation of this update, the system was restarted.

Terry Miller

Campus Computing Sites

Mac Updates 2009-01-06

We’ve made the following changes to our Mac environment:

Citrix ICA Client has been updated to version 10.0.603.
Flip4Mac has been updated to version 2.2.1.11.
Paintbrush 1.2 is now installed on all full-use Macs.
StataSE has been updated to 10.1.

Matlab 2007a Disabled on Sites SoftGrid Server

Matlab 2007a was disabled in the Sites SoftGrid environment. The change primarily affects Windows systems running the Sites Vista Lab Loadset. Matlab 2008a remains available via SoftGrid.

Terry Miller

Campus Computing Sites

Windows Update Settings Changes on CCS-DFS02

The settings for Windows Update have been modified on CCS-DFS02. The previous settings installed updates and restarted the server as needed at 3 AM when critical and important updates were available. The new settings will download updates automatically, but installation of updates and reboots of the server will require the actions of an administrator.

This change makes the configuration of Windows Updates on CCS-DFS01 consistent with the other production Windows Server 2008 systems.

Terry Miller

Campus Computing Sites

Updates Installed on Windows Servers

Updates were installed on Sites Windows Servers as follows:

CCS-AV01

The following updates were installed via Windows Update:

Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition (KB957388)

Security Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition (KB955069)

Security Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition (KB954459)

Security Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition (KB957097)

Security Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition (KB958623)

Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 7 in Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition (KB958215)

Security Update for Internet Explorer 7 in Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition (KB960714)

Security Update for Microsoft XML Core Services 4.0 Service Pack 2 for x64-based Systems (KB954430)

Security Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition (KB956802)

Security Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition (KB958624)

Windows Malicious Software Removal Took x64- December 2008 (KB890830)

The system was restarted.

Following the restart, the following update was marked to hidden:

Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition (KB955839)

The update addresses issues with DST in 2008, and the update failed to install properly when updates were attempted on CCS-AV01.

CCS-AV02