Using CA AppLogic › Appliance Developer Guide › Appliance OS Installations › Windows Installations › Windows OS › Windows Base Class › Windows Server 2012 Base Server Class

Windows Server 2012 Base Server Class

For Windows appliances and applications, these instructions allow you to create Windows Server 2012 base classes. The instructions have been tested with the following Windows Server versions:

• The install is based on a DVD install Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition 64-bit.
• The install size may change as Microsoft releases new updates to the OS.
• The contents of the X:\WINDOWS\SoftwareDistribution\Download folder can be removed to save disk space.

  For the example, the ISO image used for the installation has been downloaded from the Microsoft MSDN site and copied to the impex volume of the grid as en_windows_server_2012_x64_dvd_915478.iso. Refer to the iso2class reference for other methods to specify an ISO image for the installation.

• The TurboGate PV drivers version 3.0.1 can be used with the Windows Server 2012.
• Do not execute the TurboGate installer until after you have completed installation of the basic OS.
• The host name must be different than any user name.
• In the following text of this topic, the y placeholder in WIN12y corresponds to the Windows edition that the appliance is based on. For example, S for Standard and DC for DataCenter

Note: The Server Windows exe contains the APK. The APK performs an automated prep script prior to installing the APK. You can disable the automated prep script, if you have already prepared the machine. During the Install, select Custom and disable the Prep script. You can then manually perform the APK prep script. To review the manual steps, refer to Manually Perform APK Prep Script.

Install and Configure Appliance

Follow these steps:

1. Open a 3T shell, execute the following command:

   util iso2class app_name=win12_install install_size=16G console_type=graphic iso_volume1=en_windows_server_2012_x64_dvd_915478.iso virt_options=acpi=1 cpu=1 mem=1G
   

   This creates and starts the win12_install application, booting the singleton iso2class from the specified ISO image.

   For SCSI based appliance creation, use the following command

   util iso2class app_name=win12_install install_size=16G console_type=graphic iso_volume1=en_windows_server_2012_x64_dvd_915478.iso virt_options=acpi=1 cpu=1 mem=1G  scsi=1
   

2. The volume size of 16 GB provides enough space for the OS installation and subsequent Windows updates, resulting in an appliance with approximately 1GB or more of free space when the process is complete. This size requirement may change as Microsoft introduces more updates to the OS.

   The boot volume of a Windows Server 2012 appliance is formatted as ntfs08. You can only increase the size of the ntfs08 boot volume.

3. Access the graphic console of the singleton using one of the following methods:
   • Select the application in the application list in the GUI and click the icon for Login (graphic).
   • Open the application in the infrastructure editor and select the singleton iso2class. Then select Login (graphic) in the Appliance menu.
4. After the graphical console displays, access the installation interface.
   • The singleton reboots during installation, rendering the graphical console inoperative. When this happens, simply close and re-open the graphical console.
   • On a rare occasion, when using Mozilla Firefox to access the graphical console, a repeatable error of Application is not started or graphical console misconfigured displays. If this should happen simply close and re-open Firefox.
   • The following instructions assume a full Windows installations with its more complete graphical interface. If installing a Server Core installation, adjust your keyboard and mouse actions to accomplish these steps.
5. To complete the installation and Windows setup, the singleton reboots itself and Windows requests a new password.
   1. Enter the required information and press Enter. Windows sets a new password for Administrator and displays a success message.
   2. Click OK. Windows automatically logs in to the Administrator desktop.
6. After reboot, reopen the graphical console
   1. Log in to the appliance.
   2. Change the computer name
      • Open Server Manager, Local Server and click the computer name.
      • Click Change, then set the computer name to WIN12y.
      • Restart when requested and close the graphical console.
7. Configure the external interface (Ethernet) of the singleton to provide access to the internet.

   Ethernet 2 is the internal interface.

   Perform one of the following:

   • Access Server Manager, Local Server, then click Ethernet. The Network Connections window displays.

     Right click Ethernet, Properties, TCP/IPv4, Properties.

     Click Use the following IP address and enter an available IP address from the grid's assigned external network and the corresponding netmask and gateway for that network. To locate the IP address and other values, access the Network Resources section of the dashboard.

   • Or, execute the following commands in the command shell:

     netsh interface ip set address name="Ethernet" static [ip-address] [netmask] [gateway] 1 
     netsh interface ip set dns name="Ethernet" static [dns-ip] 
     

8. Install high priority and optional Windows updates:
   1. Open the Control Panel, System and Security and select Windows Update. The Windows Update dialog displays.
   2. Click Change Settings, Download updates, but let me choose to install them, then OK and Check for updates.
   3. Reboot when prompted. Close the graphical console, and, after approximately one minute, open the graphical console.
   4. Repeat the above procedure until there are no updates to install.
9. Activate Windows by opening the Server Manager, Local Server.

   Click the Product ID and enter a valid product key.

10. Shut down the OS and continue the iso2class installation using the following steps:
    1. In the Windows Power Shell window, type the following command and press Enter:

       shutdown -s -t 0
       

    2. Wait approximately five seconds.
    3. Within the 3tshell running the iso2class utility, press Enter, Y, Enter.

       The second volume becomes available to the singleton.

11. Wait approximately one minute, then open the graphical console and log in to the Windows desktop.

    If the graphical console starts in the System Recovery Options dialog, perform the following steps:

    1. Select Next and log in as Administrator.
    2. Restart and wait approximately one minute.
    3. Reopen the graphical console and log in to the Windows desktop.
12. To transform this singleton into a fully managed appliance, execute the Windows Server exe installer.
    1. Locate this self-executing installer on the drive of the singleton. The drive is typically drive D or E.
    2. Double-click the Server Windows exe file to perform the base class appliance installation.

    The Windows APK is installed as a pre-requisite.

13. If there are junction points on the volume, delete junction points to prevent Windows volume resize failures.

    Search for junction points using the command prompt.

    dir/S /A:L
    

    The output reports the path for any junction points.

    The following are examples of junction points on a Windows boot volume. The names on your volumes can differ.

    • WINDOWS\assembly\GAC_32\System.EnterpriseServices\2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\
    • WINDOWS\assembly\GAC_MSIL\IEExecRemote\2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a\
14. If you are installing the TurboGate PV drivers, execute the following command.The drive is typically drive D or E.

    copy E:\TurboGate-Tools-Setup-V3.0.1.exe C:\
    

15. Shutdown the OS to ensure required system configuration occurs.

    Perform the following steps:

    1. In the command shell, type the following command and press Enter:

       shutdown -s -t 0
       

    2. Wait approximately five seconds.
    3. Within the 3tshell running the iso2class utility, press Enter, Y, Enter.
    4. When prompted in the 3t shell, select the The appliance is fully managed option.

       The iso2class stops the application, changes the singleton boundary to that of a generic server appliance, and re-starts the application.

Create Catalog Appliance Class

You create a catalog class by changing the singleton into a catalog appliance class.

Follow these steps:

1. Stop the application.
2. Open the application in the Infrastructure Editor.
3. Right-click the singleton and select Attributes. The Instance Settings window displays.

   Change the instance name to WIN12y and click OK.

   The Infrastructure Editor displays.

4. Right-click the singleton and select Modify Boundary.

   The Class Definitions window displays.

5. In the General page, change the class name to WIN12y.
   1. Enter the description as: Windows Server Appliance – based on Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition 64-bit
   2. Select the OS icon as Windows.
   3. Set the documentation URL to the appliance datasheet using the following URL:

      http://doc.3tera.com/AppLogicxx/index.htm?toc.htm?CatGenericWindows12.html
      

      where xx indicates the current version of AppLogic

   4. Verify the Virtualization modes.
6. Select the Resources tab.

   The Resource page displays.

   Modify the resource settings based on the following resource table.

1. Click OK. The Infrastructure Editor displays.
2. To save the application, click Save.

Complete Installation and Setup

Completing the appliance includes making changes if you are installing the TurboGate PV drivers. If not, refer to the note at the end of this procedure.

Follow these steps:

1. In the modify boundary dialog for the singleton:
   1. Add terminals to the appliance until there is a total of 7 listed interfaces. With the default interface, you will have the maximum 8 interfaces. This step is required to avoid manual user intervention when adding terminals to future Windows appliances that are based off this Windows server appliance.

      If appliance virtualization mode is vmware , add terminals to the appliance until there is a total of 9 listed interfaces. With the default interface, you will have the maximum 10 interfaces.

   2. To ensure that new volumes added to an appliance are properly recognized and brought online, add three placeholder volumes to the appliance. Do not assign mount points for these volumes.
   3. Create three raw 50 MB volumes and configure the singleton instance to use these volumes for the placeholder volumes.
   4. Save and start the application.
2. SSH into the appliance and set the Administrator password (net user administrator new password).

   Note: Change the administrator password because the Server Windows EXE sets a new random password on initial boot and you must know the Administrator password before installing the TurboGate PV drivers.

3. Log in through the graphical console.
4. Execute diskpart in a cmd.exe shell in the graphical console to format and mount the three raw volumes. Within the diskpart command line interface, execute the command list disk.
   1. Execute the following commands for each disk, except the boot disk:

      select disk #  [specify the number]
      online disk # [skip this step if the disk is online]
      clean
      create partition primary 
      assign letter=[specify a different letter for each disk, such as D, E, F]
      

   2. Exit the diskpart interface.
   3. Format each volume in the cmd.exe shell. For example: format /fs:ntfs d:.
5. Execute the PV driver installer. For example: C:\TurboGate-Tools-Setup-V3.0.1.exe.

   Select Install Anyway as required. Do not reboot after the install.

6. Open a 3T shell and execute the following command:

   app restart win12_install -debug
   

7. Wait approximately one minute after the application begins to start, then log in using the graphical console and wait approximately one minute until the driver installation completes and the pop-up window requests a restart.

   To restart the appliance, click the Restart icon.

   Note: Perform one of the following sets of steps, depending on whether the app start has timed out:

   • If the application start has not timed out, it may complete normally.
   • If the application start has timed out, execute the following command in the 3T shell, followed by shutdown within the graphical console:

     app stop win12_install 
     

8. Within the 3T shell, execute app start win12_install and verify the appliance starts without error.
9. Log in through the graphical console:
   1. Verify all the disks are online using diskpart in a cmd.exe shell:

      diskpart
      list disk
      exit
      

   2. If you have installed version 3.0.1 of the TurboGate PV drivers, select Start, Run, services.msc to disable the service gkservice.

      This service is installed with the PV drivers and, if there is more than one virtual network interface associated to the appliance, fails to start. Disabling this service does not affect the performance of the PV drivers.

10. In a bash shell on the appliance perform the following steps:
    1. Set a new complex password, such as net user administrator pq398hpaowht0293j^LWOIFH9htfw9jfe.
    2. Exit the SSH session.
    3. SSH into the appliance and execute the following command:

       rm -f ~/.bash_history /cygdrive/c/TurboGate* /appliance/passwd.stamp
       

11. Stop the application, then modify the appliance boundary and remove the extra terminals and 3 placeholder volumes added in the previous steps.

Not installing TurboGate PV

If you are not installing the TurboGate PV drivers, perform the following steps to complete the appliance:

1. Start the application and securely log in to the appliance using SSH.
2. Execute the following command:

   rm -rf /appliance/passwd.stamp ~/.bash_history
   

Enable the Appliance to be Compliant using Sysprep

The Windows APK includes a script to prepare catalog appliance instances to be specialized during the initial start. This process uses the Microsoft sysprep utility. Sysprep checks for the license key and returns the appliance to the factory default.

If you used a Microsoft site license key in the preceding steps, you do not need to sysprep. The site license key allows the key to be used each time you branch your singleton.

If you do not have a site license key and need to license multiple appliances individually, you must sysprep each appliance.

Follow these steps:

1. Log in through the graphical console.
2. From the cmd.exe shell, execute

   mountvol /e 
   

3. Restart the OS using the command:

   shutdown -r -t 0
   

4. After a few minutes, reopen the graphical console and, from the cmd.exe shell, cd to the C:\applogic directory.
5. Execute the run_sysprep_generalize.bat script
6. This runs the Sysprep /generalize phase and takes less than 3 minutes to complete
7. When complete, stop the application

   The singleton is ready to be moved to the /system_ms catalog with Sysprep enabled to run upon instantiation.

Move Appliance to the Catalog

Follow these steps:

1. Verify that you have full access rights to the catalog. These rights are required to move the singleton.
2. Move the singleton into the /system_ms catalog.