Sysprep Tool

Sysprep (System Preparation Tool) is Microsoft's Tool for operating system deployment used to generalize the windows installations.  When you clone a server or deploy from a template, Sysprep needs to be executed to remove the unique identifiers duplicated from the base server/template.  With Sysprep we configure Windows to boot to the Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE).

Windows operating system installations include many unique elements per installation that need to be "generalized" before capturing and deploying a disk image to multiple computers. Some of these elements include:

• Computer name
• Security Identifier (SID)
• Driver Cache
• GUID

To Run Sysprep via GUI:

• Navigate to C:\windows\system32\sysprep folder and click on Sysprep.exe

• Select the Out of Box Experience and check the Generalize option.
• Choose the Shutdown Option to Reboot (always).

• Wait for the process to complete and the Windows will reboot.
• Now select the Win Location/Keyboards defaults and Accept the license Agreement.
• Once the Windows boots, the ServerName will be reset.  You need to change it to the required name and join the server to your domain.
• RE-IP your NIC cards.
• The disks might go offline (if you have other partitions than C:).  Go to the disk management > right click on each disk > click online.

To Run Sysprep via command line:
Open a Command Prompt window as an administrator. Change to the C:\windows\system32\sysprep directory. Type:

Command	Description
Sysprep /generalize /shutdown /oobe	Standard command for real hardware
Sysprep /generalize /shutdown /oobe /mode:vm	Command for a Virtual Machine

Collecting Host details using the EMC GRAB

The EMC Grab Utility runs a series of host based commands and utilities that collect system information to provide to EMC Support for problem troubleshooting. It collects specific details like server configuration, installed programs, updates/patches, storage and disk information, drivers, event logs etc.

The EMC Grab report creates a zip file. The Windows version of the EMC Grab is the EMC Report.

Windows versions(x86 & x64) download link:
ftp://ftp.emc.com/pub/emcgrab/Windows/

UNIX versions (all flavors) download link:
ftp://ftp.emc.com/pub/emcgrab/Unix/

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Steps to run on Windows Server:
1. Download the EMC Grab Utility as per your windows server version.

2. Double click on EMCRPTS_X64_V61.exe

3. Now you can see a command prompt screen running and collecting various system details.























4. Once it completes the collection, the zip file will be saved in the below path:
"C:\Windows\Emcreports\COLLECTION\ZIP"

Steps to run on Linux server:
1. Download the EMC Grab Utility as per your Unix server version.

2. Copy it to the server and extract it.

root@hostname usr] # tar –xvzf emcgrab_linux_v4.8.1.tar   root@hostname usr] # cd emcgrab

3. Run the script.

root@hostname usr] # ./emcgrab.sh

DO YOU AGREE TO ACCEPT THE TERMS & CONDITIONS OF THIS LEGAL AGREEMENT (Y/N): Y
1) Please Enter Service Request Number:
2) Please Enter Customer Party Number (Site ID):
3) Please Enter Customer Company Name:
4) Please Enter Customer Contact Name:
5) Please Enter Customer Contact Phone Number:
6) Please Enter your Email Address:
Hostname / OS Info: Your_HostName / Linux

Is the EMC Grab Identification Information Correct (Y/N) : YDo you want to collect SMI-S information (y/n) ? N
Do you want to collect XtremIO Array information (y/n) ? N

Please approve that you verified that the script version is up to date (y/n)? Y

Please submit this file to EMC for Analysis. Thank you
Removing Temporary Files....

4. Verify the output file is created under /usr/emc/outputs OR your specific path you provided.
File Name: HostName_YYYY-MM-DD-HH.MM.SS_Linux_emcgrab_V4.8.1_CC0000000000.tar.gz

5. Now copy the output from the source server using SCP or other tools.

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