Microsoft Private Cloud Labs

“Core Capabilities Addressed in the Guided Labs:

• Provide resources through self-service requests
• Drive consistent Service Delivery
• Provision additional cloud infrastructure
• Delegate cloud resources
• Create consistency through service templates
• Perform a standardized application deployment to test
• Stage application resources
• Self-service deployment of an application to a production environment
• Gain insight and visibility through reporting
• Monitor infrastructure
• Taking corrective actions in the infrastructure
• Reduce time to resolution with application performance monitoring
• Deploy an update to service instance
• Explore creating dashboards”

You can find more information about the Microsoft Private Cloud Labs here.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

Microsoft Private Cloud Evaluation Software

“A Microsoft private cloud dramatically changes the way your business produces and consumes IT services by creating a layer of abstraction over your pooled IT resources. This allows your datacenter to offer true infrastructure service capability as well as optimally managed application services.

Microsoft private cloud solutions are built on System Center and Windows Server.”

You can get the software here.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

Microsoft Active Directory Topology Diagrammer Tool

“With the Active Directory Topology Diagrammer tool, you can read your Active Directory structure through LDAP. The Active Directory Topology Diagrammer tool automates Microsoft Office Visio to draw a diagram of the Active Directory Domain topology, your Active Directory Site topology, your OU structure, your DFS-R topology or your current Exchange 20XX Server Organization. With the Active Directory Topology Diagrammer tool, you can also draw partial Information from your Active Directory, like only one Domain or one site. The objects are linked together, and arranged in a reasonable layout that you can later interactively work with the objects in Microsoft Office Visio.”

You can download the Microsoft Active Directory Topology Diagrammer tool here.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

Microsoft File Server Capacity Tool - v1.2

“File server capacity planning and performance troubleshooting are critical aspects of high-level network administration. File server capacity planning tools can be valuable in choosing new hardware for purchase, identifying the capacity of existing hardware, locating existing bottlenecks, and planning for resource expansion in advance of resource exhaustion.

The throughput capacity of a file server can be expressed either as the maximum number of operations per second or a maximum number of users supported by the configuration. These values are influenced by several factors, some of which include processor speed, available memory, disk speed, network throughput and latency, and the speed with which SMB requests are processed.

 
This release is an updated release to v1.0. It includes support of File Server in the Windows Clustering configuration. Windows Clustering allows system to be built with redundancy, which provides high availability to tolerate hardware failures. With a two node clustering, you could setup more than one virtual file server instance, and have FSCT clients run load against all the instances. In this release, a new section “Running FSCT against a singleton Windows Cluster” will describe the setup and steps for running against a Windows Cluster.”

You can download the Microsoft File Server Capacity Tool here (64b) and here (32b).

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

New Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3 Download!

“iSCSI Software Target is an optional Windows Server component that provides centralized, software-based and hardware-independent iSCSI disk subsystems in storage area networks (SANs).”

You can download the new package here and find additional information by reading Jose Barreto’s blog posts: The Basics of the Virtual Disk Services (VDS), Configuring the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target, Step-by-step: Using the Microsoft iSCSI Software Target with Hyper-V (Standalone, Full, VHD) and Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3 for Windows Server 2008 R2 available for public download.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

Problems with VMware Tools on Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 running on ESX 4.0

“Details:

• You receive a black screen on the virtual machine when using Windows 7 or Windows 2008 R2 as a guest operating system on ESX 4.0.
• You experience slow mouse performance on Windows 2008 R2 virtual machine.”

You can find more information about Troubleshooting SVGA drivers installed with VMware Tools on Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 running on ESX 4.0 here.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

Configure the Windows Time Service on a New PDC Emulator

Something to take into account if you are upgrading your AD infrastructure to Windows 2008/R2 and adding a new DC to hold the FSMO roles:

“If you have changed the FSMO roles to another machine please run on the new PDC Emulator:

• w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:PEERS /syncfromflags:manual /reliable:yes /update

With "PEERS" you can set the time source, either DNS name or an ip address from a reliable time source. Here you can find some of them: http://www.pool.ntp.org/.

On the old PDC Emulator run:

• w32tm /config /syncfromflags:domhier /reliable:no /update
• After that run: net stop w32time and then net start w32time”

Original post and more information here and here.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

Windows Time Service Errors and a Virtualized Domain Controller on Hyper-V

“Disable time synchronization on the host by using Integration Services, and then configure the virtualized domain controller to accept the default Windows Time Service (W32time) domain hierarchy time synchronization. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open Hyper-V Manager.
2. Click Settings.
3. Click Integration services.
4. Clear the Time Synchronization option.
5. Exit Hyper-V Manager.
6. Restart the server.”

More information here – Microsoft KB article 976924.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

Microsoft Hyper-V Portal/Wiki

“Hyper-V is Hypervisor-based virtualization technology from Microsoft. It is available both as Windows Server role (starting with Windows Server 2008) and as a free stand-alone product called Microsoft  Hyper-V Server.

Following is a list of Hyper-V-related topics in TechNet Wiki.

General information

• About Microsoft Virtualization
• Hyper-V Survival Guide
• Hyper-V TV
• Hyper-V Terms

Hyper-V / hypervisor Concepts

• Hyper-V Concepts - Snapshots

Hyper-V Resources

• Hyper-V Tools
• Hyper-V Scripts
• Hyper-V Troubleshooting
• Download Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2

Technical Information

• Hyper-V Architecture
• Hyper-V Virtual Networking Best Practices
• Hyper-V VM Migration — R1 to R2
• Hyper-V Live Migration”

You will find the Microsoft Hyper-V Portal/Wiki page here.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

False Positive Detection of w32/wecorl.a in 5958 DAT (McAfee)

Here is the procedure I used today to fix the issue with the false positive detection of w32/wecorl.a in 5958 DAT:

• Download the EXTRA.ZIP file (bottom of the page) and extract the EXTRA.DAT file to a temporary location
• Click Start, Run, type services.msc and click OK
• Right-click the McAfee McShield service and select Stop
• Copy (*1) the EXTRA.DAT file (or above like the now released 5959) to c:\program files\common files\mcafee\engine
• Reboot in Safe Mode
• Replace (*1) the current svchost.exe (c:\windows\system32\) with the copy stored in c:\windows\servicepackfiles\i386\svchost.exe or c:\windows\system32\dllcache\svchost.exe
• Reboot and Test the system (*2)

(*1) If Windows does not allow you to copy the file, start the system with a bootable cd (like the Hiren’s boot cd) and then perform the copy operation

(*2) If McAfee fails to start consider re-installing the application

Additional information from McAfee can be found here and here.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

Microsoft TechNet Webcast: Hyper-V for the VMware Administrator (Level 300)

“If you are a VMware administrator or you are considering a virtualization platform purchase, then this webcast is for you. Using demonstrations, we compare Microsoft and VMware virtualization platforms and highlight the differences in the two platforms. Topics we cover include Failover Clustering, the Microsoft high availability solution; live migration, how Microsoft does VMotion; using Performance and Resource Optimization (PRO) to move virtual machines; and much more.”

The Microsoft TechNet Webcast Hyper-V for the VMware Administrator can be downloaded here.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services Resource Kit

“In-depth and comprehensive, this Resource Kit delivers the information you need to set up, deploy, and manage a Terminal Services farm using Windows Server 2008.”

You can download the Windows Server 2008 TS Resource Kit free e-book here.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

Video - Microsoft Hyper-V: Understanding Networking

“This video, with a mix of slides and demo, walks through networking in Hyper-V. We take a look at the different types of networks: Private, Internal and External, along with vLANs and Teaming.

Duration: 52m 14s:

• Demo: Private Networking & vLANs @ 17m 38s
• Demo: Internal Networking & vLANs @ 27m 03s
• Demo: External Networking & vLANs @ 33m 25s
• Demo: NIC Teaming @ 45m 19s”

You can download the video here.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 / R2 - Server Core Installation Options

“This step-by-step guide provides information about installation, initial configuration, and managing a server that is running a Server Core installation.”

You can download the Microsoft Server Core Installation Option Getting Started Guide here.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

Microsoft Hyper-V Frequently Asked Questions

“The following are some of the most frequently asked questions about Hyper-V. These questions are based on actual calls and e-mails to Microsoft and might save you time and effort.”

You will find the Microsoft Hyper-V FAQ here.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

Microsoft GPOAccelerator

The GPOAccelerator creates all the Group Policy objects (GPOs) that you need to deploy recommended security settings for your environment to save you hours of work that you would otherwise need to configure these settings. This Solution Accelerator includes guidance to assist you with this tool.

You can download the tool here.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

Free Microsoft Press E-Book: Windows® Small Business Server 2008 Administrator’s Companion

Windows® Small Business Server 2008 Administrator’s Companion:

This comprehensive administrator’s reference delivers the details you need to successfully deploy, manage, and support Windows Small Business Server 2008.

Hurry up and download your free copy here!

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

Free Microsoft Press E-Book: Understanding MS Virtualization Solutions

This book will teach you about the benefits of the latest virtualization technologies and how to plan, implement, and manage virtual infrastructure solutions. The technologies covered include: Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V, System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2009, Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5, Microsoft Enterprise Desktop Virtualization, and Microsoft Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.

You can download your free copy here.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

Microsoft Licensing: Virtual Environments and Technologies

Overview:

Licensing Microsoft Server Products in Virtual Environments (Word file, 2.25 MB) is an overview of Microsoft licensing models for the server operating system and server applications under virtual environments. Licensing Microsoft Windows Server 2008 to Run with Virtualization Technologies (Word file, 1.39 MB) describes how Windows Server 2008 and other Microsoft server products are licensed when they are used with other virtualization technologies.

Here is the link to the document.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel

Free Microsoft Press E-Book: Windows 2008 Server Core

"Windows Server 2008 Core Administrator’s Pocket Consultant

By Mitch Tulloch with the Windows Server Core Team at Microsoft - ISBN: 9780735626263

Portable and precise, this pocket-sized guide delivers ready answers for administering your Server Core installation"

You can grab your copy here.

Posted by Gabriel Maciel