So it all begins with me finally imaging up my Windows 7 SOE image will all my bells and whistles, in KACE repository ready to go.

I PXE boot into the KACE menu, select my image and start the process, however I get “Image Failed: Internal Error 8″ and just before home time on a Friday; dammit!

So long story short this is what we did.

What we were using:

• KACE
• Dell Optiplex 960
• Windows 7 Professional
• Partitions: “C” (100Gb) & “D” (0.10GB) System Reserve

Deploy a Windows 7 Image Containing the 100 MB System Partition Link

Here is how to capture and deploy a Windows 7 image with the 100 MB system partition in tact. There are a few things you should know about Windows 7 first.

When you install Windows 7 from from DVD on a clean drive with no format or partition information, Windows automatically install the system partition and marks the volume as “System Reserved”. This partition is not viewable to the user in Explorer but is visible in Disk Manager.

If, on the other hand, the hard drive already has a single partition then this partition is not created.

Below instruction assume that the Windows 7 image is configured, includes the system partition, is prepared using sysprep if desired, and is ready for capture.

Capture the Image:

• Boot the computer to the KACE boot environment. Once booted to the Main Menu, enter the Recovery page, and the Command Prompt.

• At the command prompt enter “diskpart”. A diskart prompt should appear. Enter the following commands to change the drive letter of C and D.

select volume C
assign letter=”W”
select volume D
assign letter=”C”
select volume W
assign letter=”D”
exit

Once complete, go Back to the main menu, and select Imaging, then Capture this image to the KBOX. Name the image, select both drives from the windows, and start the capture.

Get in before entries close - ENTER to WIN

Until the 25th October 2010, one lucky fan will get to score the ultimate gaming suite powered by Razer – worth over US$500 – shipped right to your doorstep that will consist of Razer‘s suite of award winning gaming peripherals – A choice of your Professional Gaming Mouse, your ideal Professional Gaming Surface and Gaming Keyboard (just tell us which one you would like to have – it‘s yours), the Razer Megalodon 7.1 Gaming Audio Headset, Razer Armadillo2 Mouse Cable Management System, a Razer Attitude Tee, Razer Messenger Bag, Razer Gear Rack and a Razer l33t Pack.

READ MORE..

I thought I’d put some notes up of my study and any other resources that I come across, what you may find handy is who, where and how much has it cost to take this course; information that wasn’t clear until I liaised with HP.

The course is under HP Education and payment can be made by:

Credit Card, Cheque, TrainingPack, CarePack ID or the option I have opted for; “Customer Account No.”

Price ex GST% was $3000.00 which course goes over 4 days in a classroom format, lunch is provided and approx class time is 7.5-8hrs per day.

Note. VMWare Education Services makes mention of Training Credits.. more info

I am doing my course in Brisbane, QLD Australia using the company:

Venue: CTS

LEVEL 6, 288 EDWARD STREET

BRISBANE  QLD

If you plan on needing some accommodation The Treasury Brisbane Hotel is a short walk to CTS on Edward St, about 11 minutes walk (approx 800 meters)

A site I have found interesting with some good reading is Virtualised Reality here

Summary of VMWare Course: HH627S

Format: Classroom

Length: 4 Days

Overview

This hands-on training course explores installation, configuration, and management of VMware® vSphere™, which consists of VMware ESXi/ESX™ and VMware vCenter™ Server. Upon completion of this course, you can take the examination to become a VMware Certified Professional. The course is based on ESXi 4.0, ESX 4.0, and vCenter Server 4.0.
Students who complete this course may enroll in any of several more-advanced vSphere courses. See www.vmware.com/education for options.

Objectives

•  Install and configure ESX
•  Install and configure vCenter Server
•  Configure and manage ESX networking and storage using vCenter Server
•  Deploy and manage virtual machines
•  Manage user access to the VMware infrastructure
•  Increase scalability using vCenter Server
•  Monitor resource usage using vCenter Server
•  Apply patches using VMware vCenter Update Manager
•  Manage higher availability and data protection using vCenter Server

Best practices and lab exercises are interspersed throughout the course.

Who Should Attend?

System administrators, systems engineers, and operators responsible for ESXi, ESX, and/or vCenter Server

Prerequisites

System administration experience on Microsoft Windows or Linux operating systems

Outline

Module 1: Course Introduction

Module 2: Introduction to VMware Virtualization

•  Discussion of virtualization and vSphere components

Module 3: Configuring ESXi/ESX

•  Configuration of ESXi and ESX

Module 4: Installing and Using VMware vCenter Server

•  Install and configure vCenter Server, and use the VMware vSphere Client to manage vCenter Server inventory hierarchies

Module 5: Networking

•  Configuration of vNetwork standard and distributed switches, network connections, and port groups

Module 6: Storage

•  Storage management technologies

Module 7: Virtual Machines

•  Deploy virtual machines using templates, VMware vCenter Converter, Guided Consolidation
•  Modifying, managing, and migrating virtual machines

Module 8: Access Control

•  Controlling user access through roles and permissions

Module 9: Resource Monitoring

•  Workload assessment, monitoring using vCenter Server

Module 10: Scalability

•  VMware VMotion™ migrations
•  Setup of resource pools and VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler cluster

Module 11: High Availability and Data Protection

•  Setup of a VMware High Availability  cluster
•  Backup and recovery of virtual machines using VMware Data Recovery

Module 12: Configuration Management

•  Patching using vCenter Update Manager

Module 13: Installing ESX

•  Installation of ESX

For more information go to VMWare Website

At a recent conference, I said, “The remote protocol no longer matters. Both options [Citrix HDX and VMware PC-over-IP] are good enough.” While I stand behind that statement — both protocols are good enough (with caveats of course) — that doesn’t mean that the remote protocol war is over.

For years, there were only two Windows remoting protocols: Microsoft’s built-in Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and Citrix’s add-on Independent Computing Architecture (ICA). Lots of others popped up here and there, some standalone and some that enhanced RDP, but really it was RDP or ICA.

Read more.. HDX versus PC-over-IP

Finally the modern space age delivers a fully functioning graphic equalizer in a handy t-shirt format. Party like it’s 2999 with the glowing display on the T-Qualizer that dynamically changes with any ambient sound or music. This has to be the coolest wearable tech we’ve seen since the George Foreman backpack grill.

Product Features

* EL Lit Glowing Equalizer animates to ambient noise or music
* Battery Pack fits in small interior pocket inside shirt
* Each Equalizer bar reacts differently depending on sound frequency
* 4 AAA Batteries Required
* Battery pack is removable, shirt must be hand washed

Check it Out!

Engadget wrote: More..

There’s no denying that the Mini 5 is real, but up until now, we’ve had to provide all of our own promotional material. At long last, it seems as if the suits in Round Rock are finally getting around to crafting the first advertisements for the upcoming slate, and while we knew about the 5-inch WVGA (800 x 480) touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash, capacitive touch front buttons, front-facing VGA camera (for video chatting) and the 30-pin docking connector, we weren’t aware of Dell’s plans to reveal a slew of vivacious color options. If this here flyer proves legitimate, we could eventually see the Mini 5 available in an array of premium finishes and hues (thanks, Design Studio!), and we’re hoping for a few different spec builds as well. So, are you opting for the pink, or are you crossing your fingers in hopes that Dell allows you to print that embarrassing shot of you and Mr. T on the rear of one?

We are still running 3 Ncomputing devices off a Dell 755 Optiplex and was a big consideration for reception areas of the school, however recently have opted to go Wyse client & VMWare View

Student success is your top priority. To reach this goal, you need to make learning more motivating, relevant, collaborative and engaging for today’s students, who each have different learning styles. Windows MultiPoint Server 2010 was designed to help you accomplish your goal.

Read more on MultiPoint server 2010

When Apple announced new iMacs last month, it included a major step forward amid the subtle-but-welcome refinements in most of the models: the first ever iMac to offer a quad-core processor. The new high-end 27-inch iMacs are the first to use Intel’s Core i5 and Core i7 quad-core processors, and they were not available at the time of the announcement. But finally, the wait is over, and the Core i5 and Core i7 27-inch iMacs have arrived—and let me tell you, it was worth the wait.

http://www.macworld.com/article/143970/2009/11/core15_imac.html?t=201

A friend Rip from The Mesh mentioned similar findings but found this link for me.

http://andrewbevitt.com/tutorials/linux-multiwan-router/

I have put it forward to mates at The mesh forums to see if we would like to start a project, link just below:

http://the-mesh.org/tiki-view_forum_thread.php?topics_offset=1&forumId=9&comments_parentId=3072

This project would help me along with a work project currently on the way and possibly a home solutions using ADSL and a 3G connection.

Outcomes I would like to achieve is to see if we could make a virtual and physical multiWAN router setups, personally I think this project could go far and be benificial in many ways.

I still need to look around the net for other projects but this is to start the ball rolling for my findings so far.

By all means if anyone has ideas, know or are doing current projects or point me to links that would be great!

See how we go eh – Cheers