As you probably have notices, at least if you use Twitter, is that the new generation of ConfigMgr products were released yesterday (December 3). The first version is ConfigMgr v1511, and here is an hydration kit that’s builds it for you.

This Kit builds a complete ConfigMgr v1511 with SQL Server 2014 SP1 infrastructure, and some (optional) supporting servers. This kit is tested on both Hyper-V and VMware virtual platforms.

Other (older) Hydration Kits

• Hydration Kit based on MDT 2013 Update 1 and Windows ADK 10
• ConfigMgr 2012 R2 SP1 with SQL Server 2014 SP1 (Based on MDT 2013)
• System Center 2012 R2 (Based on MDT 2013)
• ConfigMgr 2012 SP1 (based on MDT 2012 Update 1)
• Windows Server 2012 and MDT 2012 Update 1 (based on MDT 2012 Update 1)
• ConfigMgr 2012 RTM (based on MDT 2012 Update 1)
• ConfigMgr 2007 SP2 (based on MDT 2010)

The Hydration Kit contents

The kit allows you to automatically deploy the below list of servers and clients. The only server you really need to build first is DC01, since that’s the domain controller, and the CM01 server will join the domain. Turns out joining a domain is tricky without a domain controller 🙂

Main servers

• DC01. Windows Server 2012 R2, DC, DHCP and DNS
• CM01. Windows Server 2012 R2, SQL Server 2014 SP1, System Center Configuration Manager v1511

Optional supporting servers and clients

• MDT01. Windows Server 2012 R2, SQL Server 2014 SP1 Express
• MDT02. Windows Server 2012 R2
• OR01. Windows Server 2012 R2, SQL Server 2014 SP1, System Center 2012 R2 Orchestrator UR8
• MBAM01. Windows Server 2012 R2, SQL Server 2014 SP1 (intended for MBAM 2.5, the MBAM setup is not included)
• WSUS01. Windows Server 2012 R2, SQL Server 2014 SP1 Express
• PC0001. Windows 7 Enterprise x64 SP1
• PC0001. Windows 7 Enterprise x64 SP1

Download the MDT 2013 Update 1 and Windows ADK 10 based Hydration Kit for ConfigMgr v1511 with SQL Server 2014 SP1 (224 kb).

Overview

Shorthand, to build the lab there are three steps you need to do:

1. Download the necessary software
2. Prepare the Hydration Environment
3. Deploy the virtual machines

Note: Detailed instructions are further down this page… see the Step-by-Step Guide section.

 
The Deployment Wizard displaying the available task sequences.

 
The CM01 task sequence, building a complete ConfigMgr 2012 R2 SP1 site server with SQL Server 2014 SP1.

Step-by-Step Guide 

Step 1 – Download the software

On the machine (client or server) that you use to manage Hyper-V or VMware, create the C:Downloads folder.

For the main servers, you need to download the following software:

• The Hydration Kit sample files (download)
• BGInfo
• MDT 2013 Update 2 build 8330
• Windows ADK 10 build 10240

  Note: To download the complete standalone Windows ADK 10 setup, run adksetup.exe /layout "C:\Downloads\Windows ADK 10"

• Windows Server 2012 R2
• SQL Server 2014 Standard with SP1 x64

  Note: It really has to be the x64 version of SQL Server 2014 with SP1. ConfigMgr does not support x86 version. If downloading the evaluation version from Microsoft, you need to “hack” the URL because even if you select the x64 version, you get the x86 ISO. When I tested today the x64 URL was: http://care.dlservice.microsoft.com/dl/download/2/F/8/2F8F7165-BB21-4D1E-B5D8-3BD3CE73C77D/SQLServer2014SP1-FullSlipstream-x64-ENU.iso  

• ConfigMgr v1511 + PreReqs (the download is named System Center Configuration Manager, Version 1511)

For the optional supporting servers and clients, you need to download the following software

• BGInfo
• MDT 2013 Update 1 build 8298

The Windows ADK 10 folder, after download the standalone setup.

Note #2: To download the ConfigMgr pre-requisites, run the SMSSETUP\BIN\X64\Setupdl.exe application from the ConfigMgr installation files.

 
Running the Setupdl.exe to download the ConfigMgr 2012 SP2 PreReqs.

 

Step 2 – Prepare the Hydration Environment

Create the hydration deployment share

1. On the Windows machine that you use to manage Hyper-V or VMware, install Windows ADK 10 (adksetup.exe) selecting only the following components:

   Deployment Tools
   Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE)          

   
   The Windows ADK 10 Setup.

2. Install MDT 2013 Update 2 (MicrosoftDeploymentToolkit2013_x64.msi) with the default settings.
3. Extract the HydrationCM.zip sample file to C:.
4. You should now have the following folder containing a few subfolders and PowerShell scripts.

   C:\HydrationCM\Source

5. In an elevated (run as Administrator) PowerShell command prompt, configure Execution Policy in PowerShell by typing the following command:

   Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted –Force Note: If you are running Windows Server 2012 R2 on your machine you don’t need to set the policy, it’s set by default. 

6. In the PowerShell command prompt, create the hydration deployment share by running the following command:

   C:\HydrationCM\Source\CreateHydrationDeploymentShare.ps1

Populate the hydration deployment share with the main server setup files

1. Copy the BGInfo file (bginfo.exe) to the following folder:
   
   
   C:\HydrationCM\DS\Applications\Install – BGInfo\Source
2. Copy the Windows Server 2012 R2 installation files (the content of the ISO, not the actual ISO) to the following folder:

    C:\HydrationCM\DS\Operating Systems\WS2012R2

3. Copy the Windows ADK 10 installation files to the following folder:

   C:\HydrationCM\DS\Applications\Install – Windows ADK 10\Source

4. Copy the SQL Server 2014 with SP1 installation files (the content of the ISO, not the actual ISO) to the following folder:

   C:\HydrationCM\DS\Applications\Install – SQL Server 2014\Source

   
   The SQL Server 2014 with SP1 installations files copied.

5. Copy the ConfigMgr v1511 installation files (extract the download) to the following folder:

   
   

   C:\HydrationCM\DS\Applications\Install – ConfigMgr\Source

6. Copy the ConfigMgr v1511 PreReqs files to the following folder:

   C:\HydrationCM\DS\Applications\Install – ConfigMgr\PreReqs        

7. Copy the ConfigMgr EXTADSCH.exe file (SMSSETUPBINX64) to the following folder:

   C:\HydrationCM\DS\Applications\Configure – Extend AD for ConfigMgr\Source

Populate the hydration deployment share with the files for the Windows 7 SP1 Clients

Note: These steps are only needed if you want to deploy the Windows 7 SP1 clients. If you don’t want these, skip to the next section.

1. Copy the Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 runtimes (vcredist_x64.exe and vcredist_x86.exe) to the following folder:

   C:\HydrationCM\DS\Applications\Install – Microsoft Visual C++ – x86-x64\Source\VS2005

2. Copy the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 runtimes (vcredist_x64.exe and vcredist_x86.exe) to the following folder:

   C:\HydrationCM\DS\Applications\Install – Microsoft Visual C++ – x86-x64\Source\VS2008

3. Copy the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 runtimes (vcredist_x64.exe and vcredist_x86.exe) to the following folder:

   C:\HydrationCM\DS\Applications\Install – Microsoft Visual C++ – x86-x64\Source\VS2010

4. Copy the Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 runtimes (vcredist_x64.exe and vcredist_x86.exe) to the following folder:

   C:\HydrationCM\DS\Applications\Install – Microsoft Visual C++ – x86-x64\Source\VS2012

5. Copy the Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 runtimes (vcredist_x64.exe and vcredist_x86.exe) to the following folder:

   C:HydrationCMDSApplicationsInstall – Microsoft Visual C++ – x86-x64SourceVS2013

6. Copy the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 runtimes (vcredist_x64.exe and vcredist_x86.exe) to the following folder:

   C:\HydrationCM\DS\Applications\Install – Microsoft Visual C++ – x86-x64\Source\VS2015

7. Copy the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6 (NDP46-KB3045557-x86-x64-AllOS-ENU.exe) to the following folder:

   C:\HydrationCM\DS\Applications\Install – Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6\Source

Populate the hydration deployment share with the files for System Center 2012 R2 Orchestrator UR8

Note: These steps are only needed if you want to deploy OR01, the System Center 2012 R2 Orchestrator server. If you don’t want this, skip to the next section.

1. Copy the Orchestrator 2012 R2 setup files to the following folder:

   C:\HydrationCM\DS\Applications\Install – System Center 2012 R2 Orchestrator\Source

2. Copy the Orchestrator 2012 R2 UR8 setup file (kb3096381_runbookdesigner_x86.msp) to the following folder:

   C:\HydrationCM\DS\Applications\Install – System Center 2012 R2 Orchestrator UR8\Source

Populate the hydration deployment share with the files for Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2013 and WSUS

Note: These steps are only needed if you want to deploy MDT01 and WSUS01. If you don’t want this, skip to the next section.

1. Copy the SQL Server 2014 SP1 Express with Tools setup file (SQLEXPRWT_x64_ENU.exe) to the following folder:

   C:\HydrationCM\DS\Applications\Install – SQL Server 2014 SP1 Express\Source

Create the hydration ISO (MDT 2013 Update 2 offline media item)

1. Using Deployment Workbench (available on the Start screen), expand Deployment Shares, and expand Hydration ConfigMgr.  
2. Review the various nodes. The Applications, Operating Systems and Task Sequences nodes should all have some content in them.

      
The Hydration deployment share, listing the applications.

1. Expand the Advanced Configuration node, and then select the Media node.  
2. In the right pane, right-click the MEDIA001 item, and select Update Media Content.

Note: The media update will take a while to run, a perfect time for a coffee break…

After the media update you will have a big ISO (HydrationCM.iso ) in the C:\HydrationCM\ISO folder. The HydrationCM.iso should be about 13 GB in size.

 
The HydrationCM.iso

Step 3 – Deploy the virtual machines

Note: All accounts, including Administrator, have a password of P@ssw0rd. If you want a PowerShell script that creates these VMs for Hyper-V, check the C:HydrationCMSourceExtra folder for two sample scripts. One for building Gen 1 VMS, and one for building Gen 2 VMs.

Deploying DC01

Using Hyper-V Manager or VMware Sphere, create a virtual machine with the following settings:

• Name: DC01
• Hard drive: 100 GB (dynamic disk)
• Memory: 1 GB
• Network: Your lab network
• Image file (ISO): C:\HydrationCM\ISO\HydrationCM.iso

1. Start the DC01 virtual machine. After booting from HydrationCM.iso , and after WinPE has loaded, select the DC01 task sequence.  
2. Wait until the setup is complete and you see the Hydration Complete message in the final summary.  
3. Leave DC01 running while deploying the CM01 virtual machine.

Deploying CM01

Once the domain controller (DC01) is up and running, you can deploy the CM01 virtual machine. Don’t forget to leave DC01 running while deploying CM01 since it is joining the domain during deployment. Use the following settings for the CM01 virtual machine:

• Hard drive: 300 GB (dynamic disk)
• Memory: 6 GB RAM minimum, 16 GB recommended

Additional Configuration Notes:

Note: Again, by default, all accounts, including Administrator, have a password of P@ssw0rd.

If you need to change server names, IP addresses, domain names, installation, passwords, etc. in the environment, the main configuration is stored in the four .ini files in the C:\HydrationCM\ISO\Content\Deploy\Control folder.

 
The configuration files for the Hydration Kit.

For ConfigMgr (CM01) you need to update the following files::

• C:\HydrationCM\DS\Applications\Install – ConfigMgr\ConfigMgrUnattend.ini
• C:\HydrationCM\D\SApplications\Install – SQL Server 2014\ConfigurationFile.ini

If you need to change the various service accounts, you need to to modify the Configure-CreateADStructure.wsf script in the C:\HydrationCM\DS\Applications
Configure – Create AD Structure folder.

If you change the Administrator password, and/or domain name, you also need to update the Authorize DHCP credentials in the DC01 task sequence.

The Authorize DHCP action in the DC01 task sequence.