Category: windows server

Help Shape the Future Microsoft Virtualization, Cloud, and Datacenter Management Products

Got some great ideas about what Microsoft should do with virtualization, the cloud and the datacenter?  Do you actively virtualize systems or want to get more in-depth with the future of virtualization?

Microsoft Windows Server and Systems Center Customer Research team is looking for ITPros to participate on an IT Pro panel.

As a member of the panel, you will have the opportunity to provide vision and feedback to the Cloud and Data Center Management Product team through surveys, focus groups, usability sessions, early design concept reviews, and customer interviews.

The research team is looking for very specific expertise profiles. Use of Microsoft products IS NOT required. To help identify if you qualify, start by completing a short survey.

Please note, this is only for customers located in the US but there is work toward extending to an international audience soon. Once again, you do not have to use Microsoft products to participate.
Interested? Want to learn more? Click to access the survey.

The Blog Series: Why Windows Server 2012 R2?

Well, why not?  Join the Microsoft IT Pro Evangelists as they embark on another blog series hosted by Dan Stolts. 

Check out Dan’s official landing page to learn about Active Directory Certificate Services, iSCSI Target Server, Scale-out File Server, Tiered Storage Spaces and more!

The series runs from now until Thanksgiving so check in with Dan often for the newest post.

Meanwhile if you need the bits to Server or Hyper-V Server… get them here:

Get the Bits!

I’ve got a few easy links for you to visit if you haven’t had a chance to check out Windows Server 2012 R2 or Hyper-V 2012 R2.  I’ve also included a few other links of interest as well!
(Note: As of Oct 18th, these links will take you the non-Preview version.)

If you haven’t gotten an Azure trial yet, you can find that here – http://aka.ms/NewAzureTrial and for some extra learning, check out the Microsoft Virtual Academy.

Need something else? There is always the TechNet Evaluation Center.  The Windows 8.1 Enterprise Evaluation is available there now.

Thoughts on VMworld

As promised, I’ve been formulating some closing thoughts about my first VMworld conference.

Overall, it was a fun experience. Going to conferences “at home” always prove to be more difficult logistically than going out of town. I was still on the hook for some of my morning and evening home responsibilities, so I didn’t attend many of the evening events or the concert at AT&T Park. A bit bummed to have missed Imagine Dragons and Train, so maybe next time!

I can’t say I was a big fan of the system where you registered for a seat in sessions. While I could see this being a boon for the event planners, it was frustrating as an attendee. I had difficulty deciding if I wanted to try to get into other sessions as “stand by” and risk giving up a registered seat elsewhere.  While not a big deal on the first day, as the conference progressed I found that my interests changed and I wanted more freedom in attending other sessions.

Also, I found that many of the sessions weren’t very technical. I admit I did attend a few “business solutions” level sessions to get an overview of some of the topics I wasn’t very familiar with, but even the “technical” and the “advanced technical” left me wishing for a bit more meat.

I attended sessions mostly around NSX, vCloud Hybrid Service and VSAN. With all of these technologies, VMware is clearly looking to make it as easy as possible for existing companies already virtualizing on VMware to embrace making their datacenters more automated. None of the ideas are “net-new” and many of the vendors that were in the Solutions Exchange area already have products that are functioning in that space or providing similar features, but I can understand why VMware would want to be able to provide similar technology options to their customers directly. I spent some time chatting with some vendors and the attitude was cordial, but at the same time it was clear that many will just be waiting to see if VMware can prove themselves in the market.

Looking at NSX, Windows Network Virtualization capabilities that are included in Windows Server 2012 and System Center 2012 SP1 compare directly with the VMware offering. In the R2 release (coming October 18th) it’s been extended to include a free network virtualization gateway in Windows Server 2012 R2 and integrate top-of-rack network switch configuration and remediation. Also in the R2 release, there is full support with the Cisco Nexus 1000V while using network virtualization.

With regards to vCloud Hybrid Services, VMware seems to be directly targeting customers who are looking at using AWS for public cloud. By making it easy to move virtual machines into vCloud instead of AWS, they are open to capture companies that have lots of VMware infrastructure in place and are just starting to look at utilizing public cloud services. A marketing message that I got from the Solutions Exchange show floor was that AWS was a great “playground” for developers, but production level applications belonged in your datacenter and then scaled to the vCloud.

However, with less than a half-dozen US-only datacenter locations mentioned for vCloud, I can’t see the solution being a suitable for companies looking for a more global footprint. Right now, Windows Azure has eight datacenters in the US, Europe and Asia, with and additional 6 centers in the works for Japan, Australia and mainland China. Azure is available for use by customers in 89 countries and territories.

VSAN is offering some compelling features for pooling storage from multiple disk locations and using different tiers of storage like SSD and traditional spindles to provide a virtualized storage solution. Without reinventing the wheel, I found a few interesting links on the web that you might want to reference for more information about how it works (also here) and some products it could compete with.

From Microsoft, there is the StorSimple product which allows you to use an appliance to introduce tiered storage levels as well as connect to the cloud for an additional level of storage. For an option that doesn’t require an appliance, Storage Spaces was introduced with Windows Server 2012 and will be updated with additional features in Windows Server 2012 R2.

Overall, I really enjoyed the opportunity to attend VMworld and take the time to see what other product and offerings are going to be “on the menu” for IT Professionals working to make their datacenters more streamlined and cost effective.  For more detailed information about how Microsoft and VMware compare and contrast, make sure you check out the IT Evangelist Blog Series – “VMware or Microsoft?”

Get a Head Start this August… Evaluations, Training and Events

Time flies when you’ve started a new job, let me tell you! I’ve been spending a lot of my days learning new LOB applications, trying to read up on new technologies and brush up on some current technology that I haven’t needed to pay much attention to in the past.  I’ve even booked a slot to take my next certification exam, Upgrading your MCSA to Windows Server 2012.

So what am I using for all of that?

Well, I always fall back to books and articles on TechNet, but this time around I’m also doing a course on at the Microsoft Virtual Academy.  I’m also going to take the TechNet Virtual Labs  for a spin as well.

I’m also playing around with the previews of Windows 8.1 and Server 2012 R2. You can get download evaluation version of that software and trying it out for yourself. There are a slew of great new features in each of those products that I’m looking forward to seeing in action. If you need a place to spin that stuff up, sign up for your Azure trial.

If you are looking for some in person events, check out my calendar of events in the sidebar. I’ve been trying to fill in dates for some of the events coming up this summer. Here are some highlights for August:

Now, back to work for me!

  

All the News That’s Fit to Recap!

Welcome July!  I can’t believe half of 2013 is over already and so much has been happening and changing. If you’ve been busy enjoying the great Bay Area weather the last few days or working hard on your summer plans, you might have missed a few of these key bits of news.

  1. As of this morning, the TechNet Subscription is retired. Check out nicely comprehensive post about what options are available once your TechNet Subscription expires, by Kevin Remde. Also be sure to visit the FAQ for additional detailed information at www.aka.ms/TNSFAQ.
  2. You can get Microsoft Surfaces at some of you favorite resellers. If you’ve been eyeing Surfaces for your business, but couldn’t get them from you standard reseller it’s time to look again. Read more about this on the Surface Blog.
  3. As of last week, the Windows 8.1 Preview is here!  Download it from http://preview.windows.com.  When released closer to the end of 2013, it will be a free upgrade for licensed users of Windows 8.  There will also be an 8.1 update for the Surface RT.
  4. If you are looking for preview software for some of the other releases from June, look no further than the Evaluation Center for the previews of Hyper-V Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012 R2,  Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials and the System Center 2012 R2.

I hope your bandwidth can stand all the downloading!

Certification Notes: For the Summer, Consider 70-417

Looking for something else to read about? Need to add something else to your list of things to accomplish?

If you hold any of the current certifications list below and haven’t thought about taking an exam in a while, you might want to check your calendar and thing about upgrading your certifications this summer. Several of the exams required for these certifications will be retired on July 31, 2013 and the certification will then be considered “legacy” and no longer attainable once August roles around.

  • MCITP: Server Administrator on Windows Server 2008
  • MCITP: Enterprise Administrator on Windows Server 2008

The 70-417 exam is the upgrade exam for to bring all these certifications up the new MCSA: Windows Server 2012. This exam also will also upgrade:

  • MSCA: Windows Server 2008
  • MCITP: Virtualization Administrator on Windows Server 2008 R2
  • MCITP: Enterprise Messaging Administrator 2010
  • MCITP: Lync Server Administrator 2010
  • MCITP: SharePoint Administrator 2010
  • MCITP: Enterprise Desktop Administrator on Windows 7

While this might not affect your current certification status, it’s always a good thing to check in on retiring exams regularly and reassess your goals for staying current with technologies.

GPT, UEFI, MBR, oh my!

One of my first tasks in my new role is to get started building out my demo laptop. I was issued a nice workstation-grade Lenovo W530. It came preinstalled with the standard Microsoft Windows 8 Enterprise image. As my demo machine, I want a base OS of Server 2012 instead, so I set out wipe the machine and reinstall.

Since the preinstalled OS was Windows 8, the BIOS was configured for Secure Boot from UEFI Only devices. In addition, UEFI is required if you want to use GPT style disks instead of the legacy MBR style disks. So this Lenovo came out of the box configured with every modern bell and whistle.

First things first, I need the Lenovo to boot from USB. So to add that support, I jumped into the BIOS and went to the Boot menu under Startup.  It shows the list of boot devices in the list, but it’s necessary to scroll down some to find the excluded items and add back in the appropriate USB HDD.

The next important decision is whether to install Windows Server 2012 on the GPT disk or use DISKPART to reconfigure it back to MBR. (The DISKPART commands to convert from GPT to MBR and vice-versa are readily available using your search engine of choice.) GPT supports larger disk sizes, but the solid-state disk in this machine isn’t that large, so I could go either way. However, you need to know which you are doing because it determines how you set up your bootable USB and your BIOS.

If you are converting your disk from either MBR or GPT, this will wipe all your data. Make sure starting with a clean slate is REALLY what you want to do.  Also, while my goal is to install Server 2012, these settings and instructions would also apply if you are trying to install a different version of Windows 8.

For Lenovo, the BIOS settings need to go like this for GPT:
  • Secure Boot – Off
  • UEFI/Legacy Boot – UEFI Only

Also, your USB media NEEDS to be formatted FAT32. (This limits the size of a single file on the USB to 4GB, so watch the size of your image.wim file if you customize it.)

And like this for MBR:
  • Secure Boot – Off
  • UEFI/Legacy Boot – Both (with Legacy First)

Your USB media can be formatted NTFS, FAT32 isn’t a requirement.

Take note, if you boot from NTFS media and try to install the OS on a GPT disk, you won’t be able to select a partition to install to, you’ll warned that you can’t install to a GPT disk and have to cancel out of the installer.  Even if you are doing everything correctly from FAT32 media, you’ll get a warning that the BIOS might not have the drivers to load the OS. This warning is safe to ignore – you can still continue through the install process and the setup will create all the necessary partitions to support GPT.

Once all my pre-reqs were sorted out, I reboot the machine and the Server 2012 install files start to load.  After I clicked INSTALL to get things going, I received an error message that read:

The product key entered does not match any of the Windows images available for installation. Enter a different product key.

Well, huh? Now granted, it’s been a while since I’ve attempted to install a Server OS on a laptop, but I surely didn’t miss a place to enter a product key! After some research I found this KB article, where it details the logic for locating product keys when installing Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.

1.Answer file (Unattended file, EI.cfg, or PID.txt)
2.OA 3.0 product key in the BIOS/Firmware
3.Product key entry screen

Turns out the Lenovo has a preinstalled OEM license for Windows 8 Pro in the firmware. Seems that this saves OEM from having to put stickers on the bottoms of machines with software keys and ensures that the OEM licenses stays with the machine it was sold with. Enterprises that deploy images with another licensing model usually are using some kind of deployment tool and image with an answer file, allowing them to bypass the check against the firmware key.

For my scenario, I wanted the quickest easiest way to provide my key. Turns out the PID.txt file is a no-brainer. You can reference this (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh824952.aspx) for all the details, but all you need to do is create a text file called PID.txt with these two lines:

[PID]
Value=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

Put your product key in for the value and save it your \Sources folder of your install media. From there it was smooth sailing. After your OS is installed, feel free to turn back on the Secure Boot back in the BIOS.

Shopping for Hard Drives? Pay Attention to Sector Sizes

Disk drive manufacturers are transitioning to the production of Advanced Format disk drives, which have 4 KB physical sector size instead of the traditional 512 bytes.  While larger sectors will ultimately improve performance, many applications are not written to take advantage of the change, so a transitional technology called “512-byte emulation” is used to support the 512 byte logical addressing.  These disks are known as “512e” disks, for short.
Advanced Format drives will ultimately be the future standard, however some applications may have issues with the transitional 512e drives, especially if you are imaging a machine to new hardware and the OS and applications aren’t expecting a difference in physical and logical sector sizes.
Microsoft has a hotfix available for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 than can address several potential issues introduced with this type of disk.  Check out KB 982018 for additional details and several known issues.  I’d be particularly aware if you are doing any P2P migrations of servers that support Active Directory, DHCP or act as a CA, as the ESENT engine is sensitive to the reporting of sector size, as detailed in issue #1 of the knowledge base article.

The Post-Mortem of a Domain Death

The past few days have been busy as we’ve been performing the tasks to remove our failed domain controller and domain from our Windows 2003 Active Directory forest.  Now that everything is working normally and I can check off that long-standing IT project of “remove child domain” from my task list, I’d like to share a few things we’ve learned.

  • NTDSUTIL will prompt you several times when it comes to removing the last DC in a domain using the steps in KB 216498. It will even hint that since you are removing the DC in the domain, that you are also removing the domain itself.  But you are not.  You must take additional steps in NTDSUTIL to remove the orphaned domain, see KB 230306 to finish up.
  • How do you know you have an orphaned domain? Check AD Domains and Trusts.  If you still see a domain in your tree that you can’t view the properties of, you aren’t done yet.  Also, if your workstations still show the domain as a logon option in the GINA, get back to work.
  • You might remember to clean up your DNS, but don’t forget to also clean up WINS.  WINS resolution can haunt you and keep your workstations and applications busy looking for something that isn’t there anymore.
  • Watch your Group Policy links.  If you’ve cross-linked policies from the child domain to your forest root or other domains, workstations will indicate USERENV errors referencing the missing domain.  Policies from other domains won’t show up in your “Group Policy Objects” container the GPMC.  You’ll need to expand all your other OUs in the GPMC to find any policy links that report an error. 
  • If you are using a version of Exchange that has the infamous Recipient Update Service, remove the service entry that handles the missing domain.  You’ll see repeated MSExchangeAL Events 8213, 8250, 8260 and 8026 on your mail server otherwise.

I’ve used NTDSUTIL in the lab and in production several times to remove failed domain controllers, but removing an orphaned domain happens far less frequently.  While the majority of our Microsoft applications handled the existence of references to the orphaned domain with grace until we completed the clean up, one of our third party applications, ImageRight, was far more sensitive about it. 

We found that a combination of the WINS resolution and the orphaned trust relationship distracted the application enough that it was slow to operate, sometimes refused to load at all, and hung on particular actions.  If you happen to be an ImageRight customer who uses the Active Directory integration features, keep in mind that it likes all the AD ducks to be in a row.

While we had a little a bit of pain getting to this point, I’m really happy that our AD forest is neater and cleaner because of it.  It’ll make it much easier to tackle other upgrade projects on the horizon for Active Directory and Exchange.