Windows Server Single CD Installation Reference

This example installation is based on a single CD install of Windows 2003 Server Standard Edition SP2. For the example, we use a global volume named win03_iso (see the iso2class reference for other ways to specify an ISO image for the installation). The same example below may be used for the other Windows editions as well (Enterprise and DataCenter).

Note that in the following text in this topic, the "y" placeholder in WIN03y is for the Windows edition that the appliance is based upon ("S" for Standard, "E" for Enterprise, "DC" for DataCenter).

1. Open a 3T shell and execute the following command:
   • util iso2class app_name=win03_install install_size=5G console_type=graphic iso_volume1=win03_iso virt_options=acpi=1
   • This command creates and starts the win03_install application, booting the singleton iso2class from the specified iso image.
   • Note that the volume is specified to be initially 5GB in size. This size is used to make sure there is enough disk space for the Windows installation. After the appliance is created, you can resize the volume depending upon the amount of free disk space left after the Windows install (we recommend to leave at least 500MB of free disk space).
2. Access the graphic console of the singleton in one of the following two ways:
   • Select the application within the application list in the AppLogic GUI and click on the icon for Login (graphic).
   • Open the application in the AppLogic editor and select the singleton iso2class. Use the pull-down Appliance menu to select Login (graphic).
3. After the graphical console appears, the Windows 2003 Server installation should be visible. Run through the installation with the following notes:
   • Use a single NTFS partition
   • Disable file and printer sharing for both network interfaces
   • Use a workgroup
4. After the install is complete, log in as Administrator and disable the page file:
   • Open Control Panel=>System=>Advanced=>Performance Settings=>Advanced=>Virtual Memory=>No Paging File=>Set to disable the page file.
   • Restart the application and verify the pagefile C:\pagefile.sys has been deleted. If not, delete it manually. You can view protected operating system files in Windows Explorer by changing the default settings:
     • Open Tools=>Folder Options=>View and select Show hidden files and folders. Un-select Hide protected operating system files.
5. Increase the default Windows disk device timeout value in your appliance by following the steps below:
   • Open the registry editor (Run > regedt32.exe) and navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/System/CurrentControlSet/Services/Disk.
   • Add a new REG_DWORD value named TimeOutValue (if this value already exists, please skip this step).
   • Set the TimeOutValue value to 60 decimal.
   • Close the registry editor.
6. Verify you have external network access through the external interface of the singleton. The singleton has two network interfaces: Local Area Connection and Local Area Connection 2. The first of these is the external interface while the second is the internal interface. Open a command shell and ping www.google.com. If the ping fails:
   • Access Control Panel=>Network Connections=>Local Area Connection=>Properties=>Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)=>Properties. Click on Use the following IP address and enter usable values for your grid (IP Address, netmask, gateway, DNS server).
   • Or, in the command shell:
     • netsh interface ip set address name="Local Area Connection" static [ip-address] [netmask] [gateway] 1
     • netsh interface ip set dns name="Local Area Connection" static [dns-ip]
7. Install Service Pack 2 and high priority updates:
   • Open IE and use Tools=>Internet Options=>Security to set the Internet security to medium.
   • In IE, select Tools=>Windows Update and install SP2. Reboot when the install completes.
   • Remove the restore files associated with the installation of SP2:
     • Use Windows Explorer to delete the folder c:\WINDOWS\$NtServicePackUninstall$
     • Empty the Recycle Bin.
     • Use Windows Explorer to compress the folder c:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles:
       • Right-click on the folder and select Properties => Advanced => Compress contents. Compress all sub-directories as well.
   • In IE select Tools=>Windows Update and install all the high priority updates. Optionally decline the IE7 install when asked. Reboot when the install completes.
   • Use Windows Explorer to remove the restore files associated with the installation of of the high priority updates:
     • Delete c:\WINDOWS\$*$ (approximately 30 folders)
     • Empty the Recycle Bin.
8. Install the Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools:
   • Point IE at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9D467A69-57FF-4AE7-96EE-B18C4790CFFD&displaylang=en (or search online for Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools).
   • Install the tools in their default location C:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Tools
9. Optionally install windows components which you want available on this appliance and which require access to the installation iso image(s). Select Control Panel=>Add or Remove Programs=>Windows Components and install optional components such as IIS.
10. Prevent system shutdown dialogs from popping up (reason for system shutdown)
    • Open the Start menu and run "gpedit.msc"
    • Go under "Computer Configuration" > "Administrative Templates"
    • Click on "System"
    • On the right pane double-click on "Display Shutdown Event Tracker"
    • Choose "Disabled" and click Apply
11. Activate Windows as required.
12. For 64-bit appliances, a Microsoft Windows bug prevents a 32-bit application to access the System32 folder on a computer running a 64-bit version of Windows Server 2003. To read more about this issue and fix this please see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942589 and apply this hotfix according to its instructions.
13. To transform this singleton into a fully managed AppLogic appliance, install the Windows Server msi. This self-executing installer can be downloaded from the grid controller through the internal interface. This interface has already been properly configured through DHCP.
    • To find the internal IP address of the controller, in a command line shell execute ipconfig /all and note the IP address of the DHCP server for Local Area Connection 2.
    • Point IE at http://IP-address:8080/download/ and download the current Windows Server msi (e.g., Server_Windows-1.0.0-1.msi):
      • Right-click on the msi file and select Save Target As to download the file to the desktop.
    • Double-click on the msi file on the desktop to perform the installation.
    • Delete the msi file and empty the Recycle Bin.
    • If you manually configured the external interface, use Control Panel=>Network Connections=>Local Area Connection=>Properties=>Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)=>Properties to reset the interface to DHCP (Obtain an IP address automatically).
14. If this is a 64-bit appliance, use Windows Explorer to copy shutdown.exe from C:\WINDOWS\system32 to C:\WINDOWS\SYSWOW64. If Windows Explorer refuses to copy but instead moves the executable:
    • Move shutdown.exe to C:\WINDOWS
    • Open a bash shell and:
      • cp -p /cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/shutdown.exe /cygdrive/c/WINDOWS/system32/shutdown.exe
      • Use Windows Explorer to move C:\WINDOWS\shutdown.exe to C:\WINDOWS\system32\shutdown.exe
15. The installation is complete. Hit the [Enter] key in the 3T shell running iso2class to continue. When prompted, select The appliance is fully managed. After this, iso2class stops the application, changes the singleton boundary to that of a generic server appliance, and re-starts the application.
16. Change the resulting singleton into a WIN03y catalog appliance class:
    • Stop the application
    • Open the application in the AppLogic editor, right-click on the singleton and select Modify Boundary:
      • Change the class name to WIN03y.
      • Enter the description: Windows Server Appliance - based on Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition 32/64-bit SP2 (be sure to use the correct edition name).
      • Change the minimum resources to: 0.1 cpu, 256M memory and 1 M bandwidth.
      • Change the maximum resources to: 4 cpu, 4 G memory and 1 G bandwidth.
      • Change the default resources to: 0.25 cpu, 512M memory and 1 M bandwidth.
      • Set the documentation URL to: http://doc.3tera.net/AppLogic24/CatGenericLinux.html
      • Add terminals to the appliance until there are a total of 8 terminals (the maximum number of terminals a Windows appliance may have). Make sure the appliance has a default interface, external interface and 6 more terminals added to its boundary. This is needed to avoid manual user intervention when adding terminals to future Windows appliances that are based off of this Windows server appliance.
    • Right-click on the singleton and select Attributes. Change the instance name to WIN03y.
    • Start the application. SSH into the appliance and set the Administrator password (net user administrator new_password). Download the TurboGate PV drivers through the internal interface (in the same fashion the Server msi was downloaded earlier). Install the TurboGate PV drivers. Do not reboot after the install.
      • Note: You must change the administrator password because the windows server MSI sets a new random password on initial boot and you must know the administrator password before installing the Turbogate PV drivers.
    • Open a 3Tshell and app restart win03_install --debug. A minute after the application begins to start, log in using the graphical console and complete the TurboGate PV drivers install: click through the hardware setup wizard for the installation of the TurboGate PV drivers for all 8 terminals that are configured in the appliance. At this point:
      • if the app start has not timed out: shutdown the OS from within the graphical console; this will cause the app start --debug to fail, and then execute app stop win03_install
      • otherwise execute app stop win03_install in the 3Tshell followed by shutdown within the graphical console
    • Within the 3Tshell execute app start win03_install and verify the appliance starts without error. In a bash shell on the appliance execute rm -f /appliance/passwd.stamp. We recommend to set a complex Administrator password so nobody can login to the appliance as the Administrator.
      • set new complex password (net user administrator pq398hpaowht0293j^LWOIFH9htfw9jfe)
      • exit the ssh session
      • ssh into appliance and execute rm -f ~/.bash_history so the password is cleared from the bash history
    • Stop the application.
    • Modify the boundary of the appliance again and remove the extra terminals that were added in the previous steps.
    • Move the singleton into a catalog.
17. The WIN03y appliance is now ready for use.

Please review the Windows Appliance Reference for details on the behavior of the Windows APK which is installed by all of the Windows msi's.

-- StephenQ - 21 Sep 2008