After being absent for a few of the previous CEP sessions I was happy to be able to attend the PCM and P2V Toolkit session yesterday. Below are some key takeaways from this session. This was the last session for this year, next one is scheduled for January 11th 2012.
Package Conversion Manager (PCM)
PCM is a feature pack for Configuration Manager 2012 which will allow you to prepare and move your packages towards the new app model.
A best practice approach to convert packages would be:
- Migrate Objects
- Create apps in a lab environment
- Test apps in a lab environment
- Export and import
The package migration options from 2007 to 2012 are:
- Do nothing and leave the package and program
- Convert Manually
- Convert using PCM
Selecting conversion candidates:
- Good : App-v, MSI and Executable files (user facing applications)
- Bad: System maintenance tools (defrag, etc …) and end of life applications
Understanding PCM manual vs automatic conversion rules:
- Automatic
- Package contains only 1 MSI
- No unconverted dependencies exist
- Content is accessible
- Manual
- Must have content
- Is a software distribution package
- Contains at least one program
Following up:
- Using the conversion dashboard
- Advanced troubleshooting: using the pcmtrace log in the %temp% folder
PCM is scheduled to be released at the same time as Configuration Manager 2012.
Configuration Manager P2V Migration Toolkit
A utility to help migration to Configuration Manager 2012 in specific scenarios, for example a remote site server migration where the goal is to re-use existing server hardware.
How can the P2V toolkit help:
- Eliminates the need of parallel physical servers at remote sites
- Repurpose existing site server into a virtual instance
- Hosting ConfigMgr 2007 AND ConfigMgr 2012 on the same physical machine using virtualization
- Simplifies and automates creation of a virtualization task sequence
- Simple and intuitive interface to create and deploy the task sequence
- All virtualization tasks sequence steps are built-in
- Limited input needed by remote site administrators
Toolkit options:
- Task Sequence with stand alone media (fully automates the end-to-end process)
- Bootable media only
Offcourse the hardware should meet the necessary prerequisites for virtualization and Hyper-V.
The P2V toolkit will ship at the same time of Configuration Manager 2012 RTM as a separate tool.
The release candicate is already available via Connect.
