[Openstack-operators] How do you manage your windows instances

Jacob Godin jacobgodin at gmail.com
Thu May 16 14:25:00 UTC 2013


Hi Joe,

I actually installed Windows cloud-init first, grabbed its unattend file
and moved it to the sysprep dir under C:\Windows\System32\sysprep, then
modified it to insert my SPLA keys. The unattend file that they provide
automatically does the password prompt. Once you have moved the unattend
file there, you'll want to open a command prompt, browse
to C:\Windows\System32\sysprep, and run sysprep.exe /unattend:unattend

Here's what the unattend file looks like:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
  <settings pass="generalize">
    <component name="Microsoft-Windows-PnpSysprep"
processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"
language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="
http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="
http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
      <PersistAllDeviceInstalls>true</PersistAllDeviceInstalls>
    </component>
  </settings>
  <settings pass="oobeSystem">
    <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup"
processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"
language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="
http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State">
      <OOBE>
        <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
        <NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation>
        <ProtectYourPC>1</ProtectYourPC>
        <SkipMachineOOBE>true</SkipMachineOOBE>
        <SkipUserOOBE>true</SkipUserOOBE>
      </OOBE>
   </component>
  </settings>
  <settings pass="windowsPE">
    <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64"
publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS"
xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State">
      <UserData>
        <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>
        <ProductKey>
          <Key></Key>
        </ProductKey>
     </UserData>
    </component>
  </settings>
  <settings pass="specialize">
    <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup"
processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"
language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="
http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State">
      <ComputerName></ComputerName>
      <ProductKey>XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX</ProductKey>
      <RegisteredOrganization>Company</RegisteredOrganization>
      <RegisteredOwner>User</RegisteredOwner>
      <DoNotCleanTaskBar>false</DoNotCleanTaskBar>
      <TimeZone>Coordinated Universal Time</TimeZone>
    </component>
  </settings>
</unattend>




On Thu, May 16, 2013 at 2:04 PM, Joe Topjian <joe.topjian at cybera.ca> wrote:

> Unless you plan on only having one instance of the Windows image running,
> sysprep should always be used as it removes all unique identifiers from the
> installation. The github repo I linked to involves running sysprep as the
> last step before uploading the image to Glance.
>
> Jacob, can you share your sysprep procedure that prompts the user for a
> password and then sets it?
>
> Thanks,
> Joe
>
>
> On Thu, May 16, 2013 at 7:49 AM, Razique Mahroua <
> razique.mahroua at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Thank you guys,
>> I'll definitely test all these solutions. If syspred does the job, then
>> it's perfect :)
>>
>> regards,
>> Razique
>>
>> Le 15 mai 2013 à 12:58, Jacob Godin <jacobgodin at gmail.com> a écrit :
>>
>> Hi Razique,
>>
>> We used sysprep to auto prompt the user for a password when first booting
>> their instance. This also allows you to do more Microsofty things to your
>> instances on boot, like insert your SPLA product key automatically.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Jacob
>> On 2013-05-15 5:36 AM, "Razique Mahroua" <razique.mahroua at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Joe, George, thank you for the answers!
>>>
>>> I had a hard time as well making the cloudinit working with my Essex
>>> environment.
>>> I'll give a shot on that one
>>> https://github.com/jordanrinke/openstack
>>>
>>> and let you know!
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Razique
>>>
>>> Le 14 mai 2013 à 17:23, GMI <gmi68745 at gmail.com> a écrit :
>>>
>>> Hi Razique,
>>>
>>> You can use the Windows cloudinit to set an admin password among other
>>> things (https://github.com/cloudbase/cloudbase-init).
>>>
>>> Recovery - use the VNC console and troubleshoot Windows boot problems as
>>> normal
>>>
>>> Disk attachment - it's not any different than any hot-pluggable device,
>>> so
>>> the users have to learn how to use it
>>>
>>> Updates - major updates (SP) should be incorporated in new versions of
>>> the
>>> provided baselines, but for day to day instance OS patch and management,
>>> the
>>> users are responsible
>>>
>>> Hope this helps,
>>> George
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Razique Mahroua [mailto:razique.mahroua at gmail.com]
>>> Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 10:51 AM
>>> To: openstack-operators at lists.openstack.org
>>> Subject: [Openstack-operators] How do you manage your windows instances
>>>
>>> Hi guys,
>>> how do you manage the following items :
>>> . User password (do you know if it's possible to configure the
>>> instance so once the user spawn it for the first time, the user is asked
>>> to
>>> change his password)
>>> . Recovery  (do you have any way to debug your customers's
>>> instances, how do you connect to them (same applies for Linux-based
>>> images
>>> actually))
>>>  . Disk attachment (are your customers aware they need to go to the
>>> disk manager after they added a disk if they want to start to use it?
>>> . Updates (Are the updates managed by your user,or do you regularly
>>> update your images?
>>>
>>> Thank you!
>>> Razique
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> OpenStack-operators mailing list
>>> OpenStack-operators at lists.openstack.org
>>> http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/openstack-operators
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>
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>>
>
>
> --
> Joe Topjian
> Systems Architect
> Cybera Inc.
>
> www.cybera.ca
>
> Cybera is a not-for-profit organization that works to spur and support
> innovation, for the economic benefit of Alberta, through the use
> of cyberinfrastructure.
>
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