Here is a download that builds a complete System Center2012 R2 infrastructure, and a few supporting infrastructure servers, as either virtual machines (Hyper-V and VMware tested) or physical machines. The kit can also deploy Windows 7 SP1 and Windows 8.1 clients, and is built upon MDT 2013.

The Hydration Kit contents

The kit allows you to automatically deploy the below list of servers. The only server you really need to build is DC01, since that’s the domain controller, and all other clients and servers are joining the domain. Turns out joining a domain is tricky without a domain controller :)

DC01 – Windows Server 2012 R2, DC, DHCP and DNS
CM01 - Windows Server 2012 R2, SQL Server 2012 SP1, System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager
DPM01 - Windows Server 2012 R2, SQL Server 2012 SP1, System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager
MDT01 - Windows Server 2012 R2, WDS, SQL Server 2012 SP1 Express
MDT02 - Windows Server 2012 R2, File Server
OM01 - Windows Server 2012 R2, SQL Server 2012 SP1, System Center 2012 R2 Operations Manager
OR01 - Windows Server 2012 R2, SQL Server 2012 SP1, System Center 2012 R2 Orchestrator
PC0001 - Windows 7 SP1 x64, domain Client
PC0002 - Windows 8.1 x64, domain Client
PC0003 - Windows 7 SP1 x64, domain Client
PC0004 - Windows 7 SP1 x64, domain Client
SM01 - Windows Server 2012 R2, SQL Server 2012 SP1, System Center 2012 R2 Service Manager
VMM01 - Windows Server 2012 R2, SQL Server 2012 SP1, System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager

Download the Hydration Kit for System Center 2012 R2 (286 kb).

Update Feb 12, 2014: Fixed an issue causing the Create Data Partition action to fail. If you downloaded the kit prior to this date, please re-download the kit and copy the DataPartition.txt file to the C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Scripts folder.

Overview

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

Download the necessary software
Prepare the Hydration Environment
Deploy the virtual machines

Note: You only need to download the software needed for the machines you actually build. Example: If you don’t plan to deploy any Windows 7 SP1 clients, you don’t need to add those setup files.

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

The Deployment Wizard displaying the available task sequences.

Sample: The CM01 task sequence, building a complete ConfigMgr 2012 R2 site server.

The readymade applications in the hydration kit.

Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1a - Download the mandatory software

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

Download the following mandatory software:

The Hydration Kit sample files (download)
BGInfo
MDT 2013
Windows ADK 8.1 (make sure you download the re-release that was available after October 18).
Windows Server 2012 R2

Note: To download ADK 8.1 run adksetup.exe /layout "C:\Downloads\ADK 8.1"

Step 1b - Download the optional software

You only need to download software for the servers you are actually building. Example: To deploy a ConfigMgr 2012 R2 server, you only need to download SQL Server 2012 SP1 and ConfigMgr 2012 R2, and so forth for the other System Center 2012 R2 products. Again, the only server you really need to build is DC01, since that’s the domain controller, and all other clients and servers are joining the domain.

To deploy the Windows 7 SP1 clients (PC0001, PC0003 and PC0004), you need:

Windows 7 SP1 x64
Visual C++ 2005 SP1 runtimes
Visual C++ 2008 SP1 runtimes
Visual C++ 2010 SP1 runtimes
Visual C++ 2012 runtimes
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0

To deploy the Windows 8.1 x64 client (PC0002), you need:

Windows 8.1 x64
Visual C++ 2005 SP1 runtimes
Visual C++ 2008 SP1 runtimes
Visual C++ 2010 SP1 runtimes
Visual C++ 2012 runtimes

To deploy the System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager server (CM01), you need:

SQL Server 2012 Standard with SP1
System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager + PreReqs

Note #2: To download the ConfigMgr 2012 R2 pre-requisites, run the SMSSETUP\BIN\X64\Setupdl.exe application from the ConfigMgr installation files.

Running the Setupdl.exe to download the ConfigMgr 2012 R2 PreReqs.

To deploy the System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager server (DPM01), you need:

SQL Server 2012 Standard with SP1
System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager

Note: To install the evaluation version of System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager, which is default in this kit, you need to download the special evaluation media. The DPM team is unfortunately not very good on writing installers. This is the ONLY System Center 2012 R2 product that requires a separate media for evaluation, and even worse, the evaluation media is hardcoded against a SQL Server instance (MSDPM2012EVAL). Not that bright if you ask me.

To deploy the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2013 server (MDT01), you need:

SQL Server 2012 SP1 Express with Tools
Report Viewer 2008 SP1 (for WSUS)

To deploy the System Center 2012 R2 Operations Manager server (OM01), you need:

SQL Server 2012 Standard with SP1
System Center 2012 R2 Operations Manager

To deploy the System Center 2012 R2 Orchestrator server (OR01), you need:

SQL Server 2012 Standard with SP1
System Center 2012 R2 Orchestrator

To deploy the System Center 2012 R2 Service Manager server (SM01), you need:

SQL Server 2012 Standard with SP1
System Center 2012 R2 Service Manager
Report Viewer 2008 SP1 (KB971119)

To deploy the System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager server (VMM01), you need:

SQL Server 2012 Standard with SP1
System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager

Step 2 - Prepare the Hydration Environment

Create the hydration deployment share

On the Windows machine that you use to manage Hyper-V or VMware, install Windows ADK 8.1 (adksetup.exe) selecting only the following components:
Deployment Tools
Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE)

The Windows ADK 8.1 Setup.
Install MDT 2013 (MicrosoftDeploymentToolkit2013_x64.msi) with the default settings.
Extract the HydrationSC2012R2.zip sample file to C:\.
You should now have the following folder containing a few subfolders and PowerShell scripts.

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\Source
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.
In the PowerShell command prompt, create the hydration deployment share by running the following command

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\Source\CreateHydrationDeploymentShare.ps1

Populate the hydration deployment share with the mandatory files

Copy the BGInfo file (bginfo.exe) to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - BGInfo\Source
Copy the Windows Server 2012 R2 installation files (the content of the ISO, not the actual ISO) to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Operating Systems\WS2012R2

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.

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

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 - x86-x64\Source
Copy the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 runtimes (vcredist_x64.exe and vcredist_x86.exe) to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 - x86-x64\Source
Copy the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 runtimes (vcredist_x64.exe and vcredist_x86.exe) to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 - x86-x64\Source
Copy the Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 runtimes (vcredist_x64.exe and vcredist_x86.exe) to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 - x86-x64\Source
Copy the Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 (dotNetFx40_Full_x86_x64.exe) to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - NET Framework 4.0\Source

Populate the hydration deployment share with the files for the Windows 8.1 Client

Note: These steps are only needed if you want to deploy the Windows 8.1 client. If you don’t want this, skip to the next section.

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

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 SP1 - x86-x64\Source
Copy the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 runtimes (vcredist_x64.exe and vcredist_x86.exe) to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 SP1 - x86-x64\Source
Copy the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 runtimes (vcredist_x64.exe and vcredist_x86.exe) to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 SP1 - x86-x64\Source
Copy the Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 runtimes (vcredist_x64.exe and vcredist_x86.exe) to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 - x86-x64\Source

Populate the hydration deployment share with the files for System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager

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

Copy the Windows ADK 8.1 installation files to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - Windows ADK 8.1\Source
Copy the SQL Server 2012 with SP1 installation files (the content of the ISO, not the actual ISO) to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - SQL Server 2012 SP1\Source
Copy the ConfigMgr 2012 R2 installation files (extract the download) to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager\Source
Copy the ConfigMgr 2012 R2 PreReqs files to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager\PreReqs
Copy the ConfigMgr 2012 R2 EXTADSCH.exe file (SMSSETUP\BIN\X64) to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Configure - Extend AD for ConfigMgr 2012\Source

Populate the hydration deployment share with the files for System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager

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

Copy the SQL Server 2012 with SP1 installation files (the content of the ISO, not the actual ISO) to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - SQL Server 2012 SP1\Source
Copy the DPM 2012 R2 installation files (extract the download) to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager\Source

Populate the hydration deployment share with the files for System Center 2012 R2 Operations Manager

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

Copy the SQL Server 2012 with SP1 installation files (the content of the ISO, not the actual ISO) to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - SQL Server 2012 SP1\Source
Copy the Operations Manager 2012 R2 setup files to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - System Center 2012 R2 Operations Manager\Source

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

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

Copy the SQL Server 2012 with SP1 installation files (the content of the ISO, not the actual ISO) to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - SQL Server 2012 SP1\Source
Copy the Orchestrator 2012 R2 setup files to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - System Center 2012 R2 Orchestrator\Source

Populate the hydration deployment share with the files for System Center 2012 R2 Service Manager

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

Copy the SQL Server 2012 with SP1 installation files (the content of the ISO, not the actual ISO) to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - SQL Server 2012 SP1\Source
Copy the Service Manager2012 R2 setup files to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - System Center 2012 R2 Service Manager\Source
Copy the Report Viewer 2008 SP1 setup file (ReportViewer.exe) to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - Report Viewer 2008 SP1\Source

Populate the hydration deployment share with the files for System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager

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

Copy the Windows ADK 8.1 installation files to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - Windows ADK 8.1\Source
Copy the SQL Server 2012 with SP1 installation files (the content of the ISO, not the actual ISO) to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - SQL Server 2012 SP1\Source
Copy the Virtual Machine Manager 2012 R2 setup files to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager\Source

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

Note: These steps are only needed if you want to deploy Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2013. If you don’t want this, skip to the next section.

Copy the Windows ADK 8.1 installation files to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - Windows ADK 8.1\Source
Copy the SQL Server 2012 SP1 Express with Tools setup file (SQLEXPRWT_x64_ENU.exe) to the following folder:
C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - SQL Server 2012 SP1 Express\Source
Copy the Report Viewer 2008 SP1 setup file (ReportViewer.exe) to the following folder:

C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications\Install - Report Viewer 2008 SP1\Source

Create the hydration ISO (MDT 2013 offline media item)

Using Deployment Workbench (available on the Start screen), expand Deployment Shares, and expand Hydration CM2012 R2.
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 task sequences.

Expand the Advanced Configuration node, and then select the Media node.
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 (HydrationSC2012R2.iso ) in the C:\HydrationSC2012R2\ISO folder. With all optional software, the HydrationSC2012R2.iso should be about 24 GB in size, with only the files for ConfigMgr 2012 R2, about 12 GB.

The HydrationSC2012R2.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:\HydrationSC2012R2\Source\Extra folder for two sample scripts. One for building Gen 1 VMS, and one for building Gen 2 VMs.

Sample PowerShell script for creating the virtual machines.

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:\HydrationSC2012R2\ISO\HydrationSC2012R2.iso

Start the DC01 virtual machine. After booting from HydrationSC2012R2.iso , and after WinPE has loaded, select the DC01 task sequence.
Wait until the setup is complete and you see the Hydration Complete message in the final summary.
Leave DC01 running while deploying the other virtual machines.

Deploying the other machines

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

CM01 - Windows Server 2012 R2, SQL Server 2012 SP1, System Center 2012 R2 Configuration Manager

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

DPM01 - Windows Server 2012 R2, SQL Server 2012 SP1, System Center 2012 R2 Data Protection Manager

Hard drive: 300 GB (dynamic disk)
Memory: 4 GB RAM minimum, 8 GB recommended

MDT01 - Windows Server 2012 R2, WDS, SQL Server 2012 SP1 Express

Hard drive: 300 GB (dynamic disk)
Memory: 2 GB RAM minimum, 4 GB recommended

MDT02 - Windows Server 2012 R2, File Server

Hard drive: 300 GB (dynamic disk)
Memory: 2 GB RAM minimum, 4 GB recommended

OM01 - Windows Server 2012 R2, SQL Server 2012 SP1, System Center 2012 R2 Operations Manager

Hard drive: 300 GB (dynamic disk)
Memory: 4 GB RAM minimum, 8 GB recommended

OR01 - Windows Server 2012 R2, SQL Server 2012 SP1, System Center 2012 R2 Orchestrator

Hard drive: 300 GB (dynamic disk)
Memory: 4 GB RAM minimum, 8 GB recommended

PC0001 - Windows 7 SP1 x64, domain Client

Hard drive: 300 GB (dynamic disk)
Memory: 1 GB RAM minimum, 2 GB recommended

PC0002 - Windows 8.1 x64, domain Client

Hard drive: 300 GB (dynamic disk)
Memory: 1 GB RAM minimum, 2 GB recommended

PC0003 - Windows 7 SP1 x64, domain Client

Hard drive: 300 GB (dynamic disk)
Memory: 1 GB RAM minimum, 2 GB recommended

PC0004 - Windows 7 SP1 x64, domain Client

Hard drive: 300 GB (dynamic disk)
Memory: 1 GB RAM minimum, 2 GB recommended

SM01 - Windows Server 2012 R2, SQL Server 2012 SP1, System Center 2012 R2 Service Manager

Hard drive: 300 GB (dynamic disk)
Memory: 4 GB RAM minimum, 8 GB recommended

VMM01 - Windows Server 2012 R2, SQL Server 2012 SP1, System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager

Hard drive: 300 GB (dynamic disk)
Memory: 4 GB RAM minimum, 8 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:\HydrationSC2012R2\ISO\Content\Deploy\Control folder.

The configuration files for the Hydration Kit.

For SQL and ConfigMgr settings you need to update the following files in the C:\HydrationSC2012R2\DS\Applications folder:

Install - ConfigMgr 2012\ConfigMgr2012Unattend.ini
Install - SQL Server 2012\ConfigurationFileCM2012.ini

If you need to change the various service accounts, you need to to modify the Configure-CreateADStructure.wsf script in the C:\HydrationSC2012R2\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.

/ Johan

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