Active Directory: Capturing
an Image and Creating a Tier
Intended for use with Cassatt Active Response Premium Edition and Data Center Edition V5.1.
The Microsoft Active Directory blueprint describes
how to create and deploy Active Directory in
the Cassatt Active Response environment. If you haven't read Understanding Blueprints for Deploying Applications, read that first for background and context.
Prerequisites
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Software requirements:
- MS Active
Directory
- Windows 2003 Support Tools
- Windows 2003
Resource Kit
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Tier Settings:
- Determine which VMware host tier (or tiers) will
provide the VM for your Active Directory
tier.
- Tier Dependencies: Select at least one VMware host tier with as a tier dependency to ensure that VMs are available for this tier. For more information, read about tier dependencies.
- Custom Attribute: Use the custom attribute from the VMs in the host tier. Because the custom attribute represents the storage access, use only one custom attribute to ensure that all VMs allocated to the tier have the same storage access. For more information, read about multiple storage locations and virtual application node allocation.
- HBA key: FC SAN only—use the HBA key from the VMs in the host tier (or tiers).
- SLA: This blueprint uses the node-based SLA type as only one VM is required for the tier. To understand SLAs, see Understanding
Tier Configuration and Personalization.
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Image host requirements:
- CD-ROM drive if using a CD for software installation
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Network Requirements: Determine the network to associate with the tier. Make sure it has adequate IP addresses free to accommodate maximum nodes for the tier. |
The blueprint steps
This blueprint differs somewhat from the standard high-level
blueprint steps. For this blueprint, reserving the image host
is a prerequisite because VMware must already be running
before starting this blueprint. Also, because Active Directory
is part of the Windows 2003 Server installation, the steps
to install and configure Active Directory are described in
the Windows setup.
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Step 1: Install and configure the operating system
- Select Windows.
- Shut down Windows.
- Exit VMware.
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Step 2: Capture the image
In this step, you will capture the base image from the image host using the cccapture command—an interactive script. Although you can change values later, it is most efficient to
supply valid values now.
Follow these steps to capture the MS Active Directory image:
- Make sure you have shut down Windows and VMware as directed in the previous section.
If you do not shut down Windows and VMware prior to image capture, the image capture will fail.
- Log into the active control node as root.
- Enter the following command to start the cccapture interactive script:
/opt/cassatt/bin/cccapture
- Answer each prompt.
The next table lists the recommended values for the MS Active Directory blueprint; unless you have site specific
reasons, you can accept the default values for other cccapture prompts.
For names, descriptions, and other discretionary fields, use values that are meaningful to
you. In the image name, do not use spaces or characters (for example, /) special to Unix-based file systems such as Linux and Solaris.
At this prompt... |
Enter |
Enter the image type (linux,vmhost,windows,solaris): |
windows |
Enter the amount of time in seconds that the system
should wait for the services provided by this image to
start (after this time has passed, the system will attempt
to reboot or replace the node): [] |
1800 |
OS Monitoring Options
Specify the operating system monitoring that will be used
for this image (at least one monitoring option must be
configured):
Monitor via SNMP? [n] |
y |
Monitor via ping? [n] |
y |
- In the Controller, release the image host back to the free pool by selecting the node using the checkbox, then select Node Actions > Release from Image Capture.
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Step 3: Create the tier
Return to the Controller to define the MS Active Directory tier. Cassatt Active Response prepopulates tier values with the parameters you set during image capture. If necessary, you can change them during tier creation.
If you are deploying a backup
Active Directory domain controller,
create a separate Cassatt Active Response tier for it.
- On the left navigation pane, click Tiers to display the
Tier List.
- On the Tier List page, click the New Tier button (on the right).
- On the Properties page, set the properties for the MS Active Directory tier. Unless you have site-specific reasons, you can accept the defaults.
- On the SLA page, select the node-based SLA type and set as follows:
At this prompt... |
Enter... |
Notes |
Operational Target |
1 |
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Minimum Nodes |
1 |
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Maximum Nodes |
1 |
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- On the Requirements page, set the hardware requirements for the tier.
Unless you have site-specific reasons, you can accept the defaults in fields not listed.
At this prompt... |
Enter... |
Notes |
| HBA |
HBAKey |
FC SAN only: select the checkbox and use the same HBA key that's assigned to the VMs that you want Cassatt Active Response to allocate to this tier. |
Custom Requirements |
CustomAttribute |
Assign the same custom attribute to this tier as you assigned to the VMs that you want Cassatt Active Response to allocate to this tier. For more information, read about multiple storage locations and virtual application node allocation. |
Dependencies |
VMHostTier |
Specify at least one VMware host tier. Note that:
- If you select more than one, every tier you select must be activated for this tier to activate.
- If you have multiple ESX host tiers that access different storage locations, you must select only ESX host tiers that access the same storage location.
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- On the Networks page, select the network that this tier
will run on.
- On the IPs and Hostnames page, assign IP addresses or host names, or accept the default settings.
- You can close the Creating Tier Progress page and continue with the next section.
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Step 4: Personalize the image instances
- On the tier page, select the MS Active Directory tier using the checkbox, then select Personalize from the actions dropdown menu.
Cassatt Active Response boots the maximum nodes for the tier (1 node).
- Set the host name to a name that describes the role of the
server. To do this use NewSID, Microsoft's security ID program:
- Open a browser and navigate to to http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/default.mspx.
- On the main menu click Security Utilities.
- On the Sysinternals Utilities:Security page,
click NewSID.
- Scroll to the "Using the Source" section and click Download
NewSID.
- Run the NewSID utility on your server and change the
SID and the name of the server.
- When you are finished, return to the Controller, select the tier, and select "Personalization Complete" for the tier.
Step 5: Allocate nodes and activate the
tier
Follow these steps to allocate nodes and activate the tier.
- From the Tiers table on the Domain page, select the checkbox for the MS Active Directory tier.
- From the Tier Actions dropdown menu, select Allocate Nodes. Click Allocate Nodes on the confirmation page.
Cassatt Active Response allocates nodes and displays the Tiers table.
- Make sure none of the VMs allocated to the tier have a VMware Console attached.
The VMware Console can be attached to VMs that are not being activated in this tier, including those running on the same host server.
- Again, select the checkbox for the MS Active Directory tier.
- From the Tier Actions dropdown menu, select Activate. Click Activate on the confirmation page.
Cassatt Active Response starts the the operating system and the applications on each node in the tier.
Do not attach a VMware Console to an ESX VM before it has finished booting.
Attaching a VMware Console to an ESX VM while it is booting under Cassatt Active Response control can interrupt changes Cassatt Active Response makes to
key definition items, disrupting the boot process.
To determine when it is safe to attach a remote console to a VM, do one of the following in the Controller:
- On the Tier Activation status page, click Show Details.
- In the events table, watch for an event called "Power
Cycle Node" with status "Complete."
OR
- In the node list for the tier, wait until the node is "online."
When either of these things happens, it is safe to attach a remote console to the VM.
This completes the procedure to create and deploy an MS Active Directory image.
VM Reference and Troubleshooting
Read additional information and tips about using VMs in your Cassatt Active Response environment.
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