Amit Pawar - Infrastructure blog : Windows Server 2008

Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5 Releases/Hosting for App-V

apawar — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 03:43:18 GMT

Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) version 4.5 has been released. Formerly known as SoftGrid, App-V 4.5 is the first Microsoft-branded release of the product. It includes new capabilities designed to help IT support large-scale virtualisation implementations across many sites and provides multiple delivery options including over-the-Internet application availability to meet your business needs.

Additionally, Microsoft Application Virtualization for Terminal Services has also been updated to the same standards and now supports Windows Server 2008 Terminal Services.

Click the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack and Microsoft Application Virtualization for Terminal Services on the Microsoft Application Virtualization 4.5. Please visit the Application Virtualization Blog or the MDOP Blog for more information and go to TechNet to download App-V Guidance Documents.

Technorati Tags: Applicaiton Virtualisation,SoftGrid,MDOP,App-V,Hyper-V,Windows Server 2008

Exchange on Hyper-V

apawar — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 03:40:26 GMT

Microsoft supports Exchange Server 2007 in production on hardware virtualisation software only when all the following conditions are true:

The hardware virtualisation software is Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V technology, Microsoft Hyper-V Server, or any third-party hypervisor that has been validated under the Windows Server Virtualization Validation Program.
The Exchange Server guest virtual machine:
- Is running Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) or later.
- Is deployed on the Windows Server 2008 operating system.
- Does not have the Unified Messaging server role installed. All Exchange 2007 server roles, except for the Unified Messaging role, are supported in a virtualisation environment.
The storage used by the Exchange Server guest machine can be virtual storage of a fixed size (for example, fixed virtual hard drives (VHDs) in a Hyper-V environment), SCSI pass-through storage, or Internet SCSI (iSCSI) storage. Pass-through storage is storage that is configured at the host level and dedicated to one guest machine.
Note:

In a Hyper-V environment, each fixed VHD must be less than 2,040 gigabytes (GB). For supported third-party hypervisors, check with the manufacturer to see if any disk size limitations exist.
- Virtual disks that dynamically expand are not supported by Exchange.
- Virtual disks that use differencing or delta mechanisms (such as Hyper-V's differencing VHDs or snapshots) are not supported.
No other server-based applications, other than management software (for example, antivirus software, backup software, virtual machine management software, etc.) can be deployed on the physical root machine. The root machine should be dedicated to running guest virtual machines.
Microsoft does not support combining Exchange clustering solutions (namely, cluster continuous replication (CCR) and single copy clusters (SCC)) with hypervisor-based availability or migration solutions (for example, Hyper-V's quick migration). Both CCR and SCC are supported in hardware virtualisation environments provided that the virtualisation environment does not employ clustered virtualisation servers.
Some hypervisors include features for taking snapshots of virtual machines. Virtual machine snapshots capture the state of a virtual machine while it is running. This feature enables you to take multiple snapshots of a virtual machine and then revert the virtual machine to any of the previous states by applying a snapshot to the virtual machine. However, virtual machine snapshots are not application-aware, and using them can have unintended and unexpected consequences for a server application that maintains state data, such as Exchange Server. As a result, making virtual machine snapshots of an Exchange guest virtual machine is not supported.
Many hardware virtualisation products allow you to specify the number of virtual processors that should be allocated to each guest virtual machine. The virtual processors located in the guest virtual machine share a fixed number of logical processors in the physical system. Exchange supports a virtual processor-to-logical processor ratio no greater than 2:1. For example, a dual processor system using quad core processors contains a total of 8 logical processors in the host system. On a system with this configuration, do not allocate more than a total of 16 virtual processors to all guest virtual machines combined.

To read more go to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc794548.aspx

Technorati Tags: Exchange,Hyper-V

Hyper-V has now released to manufacturing (RTM)

apawar — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 05:45:22 GMT

Hyper-V, a key feature of Windows Server 2008, has now released to manufacturing (RTM) and is available for deployment into production environments. A beta of Hyper-V was included with Windows Server 2008 and this update provides the final release.

Server virtualization, also known as hardware virtualization, is a hot topic in the IT world because of the potential for serious economic benefits. Server virtualization enables multiple operating systems to run on a single physical machine as virtual machines (VMs). With server virtualization, you can consolidate workloads of underutilized server machines onto a smaller number of fully utilized machines. Fewer physical machines can lead to reduced costs through lower hardware, energy, and management overhead, plus the creation of a more dynamic IT infrastructure. To learn more about Microsoft and virtualization, please visit the Virtualization Web site, or the Virtualization TechCenter.

With Windows Server 2008, everything needed to support server virtualization is available as an integral feature of the operating system as Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V. With Hyper-V as a role, plus flexible licensing policies, it's now easier than ever to take advantage of the cost savings of virtualization through Windows Server 2008:

Microsoft has now released the final version of Hyper-V, which is now available for download. You can download the update for Hyper-V RTM here and experience the improved stability, usability and performance.

Technorati Tags: Hyper-V,Virtualisation,Virtualization

Windows Server 2008 and Exchange 2007

apawar — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 04:43:06 GMT

Windows Server 2008 Improvements that Benefit Exchange

Windows Server 2008 includes a number of improvements and enhancements that can directly benefit servers running Exchange 2007 SP1. There are many benefits to running Exchange 2007 SP1 on Windows Server 2008. Just to name a few:

Support for multi-subnet failover clusters When running in a Windows Server 2008 failover cluster, Exchange 2007 SP1 includes support for geographically dispersed clusters for failover across two subnets. This support includes both Cluster Continuous Replication (CCR) environments and Single Copy Clusters (SCC).
Faster log file shipping Cluster Continuous Replication and Standby Continuous Replication are two forms of log shipping that use the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol to copy log files from a source storage group to a passive or target storage group. Windows Server 2008 includes SMB version 2, which provides a significant increase (around 30-40%) in SMB-based file copying throughput and performance.
Reduced downtime for hardware maintenance Windows Server 2008 enables a variety of core hardware components to be added, removed or replaced without requiring system downtime. These processes are often referred to as "hot add", "hot remove", "hot replace" because the system remains active and continues providing service and data access while the hardware maintenance is occurring. Dynamic hardware partitioning in Windows Server 2008 includes support for hot add and replacement of processors and memory, as well as hot pluggable PCI Express cards. Of course, support for this is available only with the appropriate hardware. If you're not sure if your hardware is capable of running Windows Server 2008, you can download the Microsoft Assessment and Planning tool to securely inventory your existing servers and generate a migration report for Windows Server 2008.
Near-zero downtime when fixing NTFS corruption In Windows Server 2003 and earlier, fixing NTFS corruption required taking the server offline to run the Chkdsk utility. The downtime associated with this process can be significant, particularly when the volume being checked is quite large. Windows Server 2008 includes a feature called self-healing NTFS, which attempts to correct corruptions of an NTFS file system while the system is online, and without requiring Chkdsk to be run. With self-healing NTFS, the file system is always available, NTFS corrects all detected problems while the system is running, and Chkdsk does not have to run in its exclusive mode except in extreme conditions.
Greater scalability for Client Access servers that provide Outlook Anywhere services Windows Server 2008 includes a Next Generation TCP/IP stack that removes the RPC Proxy Service TCP connection limits imposed by Windows Server 2003 and earlier versions of Windows. Specifically, the RPC Proxy Service, the Windows component that enables RPC over HTTP, now supports per-IP address connection-limits. Whereas the RPC Proxy Service in Windows Server 2003 supports a maximum of 65,535 connections, regardless of the number of IP addresses assigned to the server, the RPC Proxy Service in Windows Server 2008 supports a maximum of 65,535 connections per IP address.
Easier deployment Windows Server 2008 includes Exchange 2007 installation dependencies, such as Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 3.0, Windows PowerShell, and .NET Framework 2.0. As a result, you don't need to separately download these prerequisites in order to deploy Exchange 2007 SP1 on Windows Server 2008. Instead, you can quickly install them from the new Server Manager MMC console in Windows Server 2008, or install them from the command-line version of Server Manager.
Support for IPv6 Windows Server 2008 includes support for IPv6, and Exchange 2007 SP1 supports IPv6 on Windows Server 2008 when used in tandem with IPv4. For more information, see IPv6 Support in Exchange 2007 SP1.

To run Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2008 you will require Exchange Server 2007 SP1 no other version of Exchange Server, including the released to manufacturing version of Exchange 2007, is supported on Windows Server 2008. Also remember that since Exchange 2007 SP1 is a 64 bit version only you will require x64 version of Windows Server 2008.

Let's look at things to know when running Exchange 2007 SP1 on Windows Server 2008

In-Place Upgrade of Operating System

It is NOT possible to do an in-place upgrade from Windows 2003 to Windows 2008 when Exchange 2007 RTM or Exchange 2007 SP1 is installed. You must first uninstall Exchange, Windows PowerShell and other components (assuming the system is a standalone server and not clustered), and then upgrade the operating system from 2003 to 2008, or you must perform a migration by using the Move-Mailbox functions or database portability to migrate from your existing server to a new server.

Exchange-Aware Backups on Windows Server 2008

Unlike previous versions of Windows, Windows Server 2008 does not include a backup utility that supports the Exchange ESE streaming backup APIs. The Windows 2008 backup application, Windows Server Backup, cannot be used to take backups of Exchange.

Exchange still includes the ESE streaming backup APIs, but the absence of an Exchange-aware backup application in Windows may come as a surprise to many. Another change we made that may also affect you is the removal of remote streaming backup support on Windows 2008.

This leaves you with two choices for taking Exchange-aware online backups when running Exchange 2007 SP1 on Windows 2008:

Move to a Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS)-based backup application. You can use Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager (DPM) 2007 or a third-party backup application that supports Exchange-aware VSS-based backups of Exchange 2007 SP1 on Windows Server 2008. Windows Server Backup in Windows 2008 is a VSS-based backup application, but there are additional requirements for Exchange backups and restores beyond using the VSS Framework; for example, checking the database and log files for corruption during backups is not part of the VSS Framework and it is not performed by Windows Server Backup.
Use a Third-Party application that supports ESE streaming backups using a local backup agent on the Exchange server. Because the ESE streaming APIs remain in Exchange 2007, you can still use them to backup Exchange. But to do that, you must use a third-party backup application that runs a local agent on the Exchange server so that the streaming backup is made locally, and not remotely. You cannot take remote streaming backups of Exchange 2007 SP1 on Windows 2008 with or without a third-party product. Any streaming backups that are performed must be performed locally on the Exchange server. An ESE streaming backup application that uses an "agent" locally on the Exchange server to remotely backup Exchange is considered a local streaming backup and not a remote streaming backup because the application’s agent component is running locally on the Exchange server.

Read-Only Domain Controllers (RODC)

Windows Server 2008 introduces the concept of read-only domain controllers (RODCs) and read-only global catalog servers (ROGCs). RODCs and ROGCs provide a way to deploy an Active Directory directory server more securely in locations that require fast and reliable authentication services but cannot ensure physical security for a writable domain controller. For more information about RODCs, see AD DS: Read-Only Domain Controllers.

Microsoft Exchange does NOT uses read-only domain controllers or read-only global catalog servers because all versions of Exchange require the ability to write configuration information to Active Directory. Microsoft Exchange works in environments that include read-only domain controllers or read-only global catalog servers, as long as there are writeable domain controllers available. Exchange 2007 effectively ignores read-only domain controllers and read-only global catalog servers, and Exchange 2007 requires a writable directory server in the Active Directory Site containing Exchange 2007 servers or users.

Cross-Operating System Feature Support

Some Exchange 2007 SP1 features require the same operating system in order to use them. For example, Standby Continuous Replication (SCR), a new type of log shipping in SP1 that can replicate data from a source to multiple targets, requires that the source and all targets run the same operating system. This means that you cannot have a source running Windows Server 2003 that replicates to a target running Windows Server 2008.

Another example is management of cluster continuous replication environments and single copy clusters. Windows Server 2008 represents a clean break from the Cluster APIs included in earlier versions of Windows Server. Because the Cluster service does not allow you to use the cluster management tools for remote administration of failover clusters across different operating systems, you cannot use the Exchange management tools for remote administration of failover clusters across different operating systems.

Meeting the Prerequisites

Once you're ready to deploy Exchange 2007 SP1 on Windows Server 2008, you'll want to first make sure you've met all of the necessary pre-requisites. One important pre-requisite to keep in mind is the installation option for Windows Server 2008. I am referring to the "Server Core" installation option and the "Full" installation option for Windows Server 2008.

Windows Installation Options and Exchange Server 2007 SP1

The Server Core installation option is a new for Windows Server 2008. A Server Core installation provides a minimal environment for running specific server roles that reduces the maintenance and management requirements and the attack surface for those server roles. To provide this minimal environment, a Server Core installation installs only the subset of the binaries that are required by the supported server roles.

As you probably already know, Exchange 2007 is the first application that leverages and integrates with the Windows PowerShell. As you may also already know, much of Exchange 2007 is written in managed code that uses the .NET Framework. Neither Windows PowerShell, nor the .NET Framework can be installed on the Server Core version of Windows Server 2008. As a result, the Server Core version of Windows Server 2008 cannot be used to host Exchange 2007 SP1. Instead, you must use the Full Version installation option.

After you've installed Windows Server 2008, you must install other prerequisites before you can install Exchange 2007 SP1. Instructions for installing these prerequisites can be found here.

Known Incompatibilities

One known Exchange-related incompatibility with Windows Server 2008 is the downloadable Messaging API Client and Collaboration Data Objects 1.2.1 package. Currently this tools package operates on Windows Server 2003 or Windows XP. We're working on validating these tools against Windows Server 2008 and expect to have an updated version released.

Migrating to Windows Server 2008

Our official guidance and procedures for migrating Exchange 2007 from the Windows Server 2003 operating system to the Windows Server 2008 operating system can be found in this month's Exchange Server TechCenter Feature Article, Migrating Exchange 2007 on Windows Server 2003 to Exchange 2007 SP1 on Windows Server 2008.

For More Information

Technorati Tags: Windows Server 2008,Exchange Server 2007 SP1,Upgrade

Windows Search 4.0

apawar — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 11:15:37 GMT

Windows Search 4.0 lets you perform an instant search of your computer. Windows Search 4.0 helps you find and preview documents, e-mail messages, music files, photos, and other items on the computer.
The search engine in Windows Search 4.0 is a Microsoft Windows service that is also used by programs such as Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 and Microsoft Office OneNote 2007. You can use this search engine to index a program's content and to obtain instant results when you search in a particular program.
Windows Search 4.0 includes the following improvements:

Support for the Encrypting File System (EFS)
Reduced affect on Microsoft Exchange when you index e-mail in online mode, and there is no local cache (.ost)
Support for indexing online delegate mailboxes
Support for client-to-client remote query to shared indexed locations
Improved indexing performance
Faster previewer updates for Windows XP
Per-user Group Policy settings
Windows software updates for Watson errors

Support for the following new enterprise Group Policy objects:

Computer policies

Prevent adding Universal Naming Convention (UNC) locations to index from Control Panel
Prevent customizing indexed locations in Control Panel
Prevent automatically adding shared folders to the index
Allow for indexing of encrypted files
Disable indexer back-off
Prevent clients from querying the index remotely
Allow for indexing of online delegate mailboxes
Prevent adding user
Specified locations to the All Locations menu
Enable throttling for online mail indexing

Per-user policies

Prevent adding UNC locations to the index from Control Panel
Prevent customizing indexed locations in Control Panel
Prevent indexing certain paths
Default indexed paths
Default excluded paths

To download Windows Search 4.0 Preview, click on the appropriate link for your version of Windows:

Technorati Tags: Search,Windows Server 2008,Windows Vista,Winodws XP,Windows Server 2003

March is the month for Windows Server 2008 on Technet

apawar — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:37:19 GMT

Special Coverage: Windows Server 2008: Inside Windows Server 2008 Kernel Changes

Dive in to our detailed tour of key changes in the Windows Server 2008 kernel that improve reliability, performance, and scalability. Find out how Windows Server 2008 makes better use of thread pools, streamlines recovery from hardware failures, improves virtualization with Hyper-V, and more. Mark Russinovich

Special Coverage: Windows Server 2008: What's New in Active Directory Domain Services

Windows Server 2008 introduces some substantial enhancements to Active Directory Domain Services. Take a close look at how read-only domain controllers and Windows Server Core improve security in your environment, how the new Server Manager and revamped backup simplify management, and how the new auditing tools help ensure compliance. Gil Kirkpatrick

Special Coverage: Windows Server 2008: Getting Started with IIS 7.0

IIS 7.0 is packed with new features—too many to include in a single article. The new version builds on the solid, securityfocused design you got with IIS 6.0, providing enhancements that greatly improve the manageability and extensibility of the platform. Get an overview of some of the most important changes in IIS 7.0. Isaac Roybal

Special Coverage: Windows Server 2008: Policy-Driven Network Access with Windows Server 2008

How do you allow network access to those who need it without sacrificing security? See how new technologies in Windows Server 2008, such as Windows Firewall with Advanced Security and Network Access Protection, let you implement a policy-based approach to help you achieve this goal. Ian Hameroff and Amith Krishnan 62 Configuring Roles with Server Manager A DNS server need not be a print server. One approach Windows Server 2008 takes to improve security and manageability is to simplify server roles so you can easily install only the tools and services you need, and nothing more. Here's an introduction to using Server Manager for configuring roles and simplifying deployments. Ian Hameroff and Amith Krishnan

Special Coverage: Windows Server 2008: Configuring Roles with Server Manager

A DNS server need not be a print server. One approach Windows Server 2008 takes to improve security and manageability is to simplify server roles so you can easily install only the tools and services you need, and nothing more. Here's an introduction to using Server Manager for configuring roles and simplifying deployments. Byron Hynes

Special Coverage: Windows Server 2008: Deploying Windows Server 2008 with System Center

It used to be that server administrators would install Windows Server manually using the CD or DVD and then spend several hours configuring the server. With the release of System Center Configuration Manager 2007 and the new Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, server administrators can now use the same tools that desktop administrators have been using for years to automate deployments. Tim Mintner

Special Coverage: Windows Server 2008: Auditing and Compliance in Windows Server 2008

Auditing change is now a core responsibility for IT departments. It is an essential part of understanding and managing systems and data in a distributed environment. This article discusses common challenges, the landscape of compliance and regulation, some of the basics of auditing, and how you can create a comprehensive auditing strategy. Rob Campbell and Joel Yoker

Technorati Tags: Windows Server 2008,Kerner,AD,IIS 7.0,Server Manager,System Center

How MSIT Uses Terminal Services as a Scalable Remote Access Solution

apawar — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:09:57 GMT

Like many large organizations, Microsoft has a geographically dispersed work force. With more than 78,000 employees in 78 countries worldwide, Microsoft faces continual challenges with making corporate information easily available to workers from remote locations and with ensuring that important internal company information is as secure as possible.

Although the vast majority of Microsoft employees have individual personal computers available from which to access company resources, the following two situations frequently occur at Microsoft:

Staff members need to access internal company resources from home or from a remote location.
Staff members who are involved in meetings or presentations at remote locations require quick access to internal company resources.

These resources may include any of the following:

Documents that are located on internal servers at Microsoft.
Internal business programs that are available only from inside the corporate network.
Personal workstations that contain important files or programs. For example, developers at Microsoft often need to connect to their individual workstations from remote locations to access programming tools or code.

To meet these requirements, Microsoft maintains a Windows® Terminal Services environment. This environment enables staff members to log on to the Microsoft corporate network and then access terminal servers that are running various internal business applications.

Terminal Services presentation virtualisation accelerates application deployments and enables any client to run any application. Terminal Services instantly web-enables rich applications to efficiently connect remote workers from managed or unmanaged devices. By using Terminal Services users can keep critical intellectual property secure and radically simplify regulatory compliance by removing applications and data from the desktop.

View the webcast at http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/WebCastEventDetails.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032368950&CountryCode=US

Technorati Tags: TS Gateway,RemoteApp,TS Web Access,MSIT

Hyper-V Release Candidate and remote management

apawar — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 09:41:25 GMT

There are two update packages for the Hyper-V Release Candidate.

Update for Windows Server 2008 (KB949219)

This package includes the following items:

• The updated version of the Hyper-V Manager console and of the Virtual Machine Connection remote connection tool for x86-based versions of Windows Server 2008

• The updated version of the Integration Services for x86-based versions of Windows Server 2008

To install the latest version of the Integration Services for x86-based versions of Windows Server 2008, you must install this package in the virtual machine and on computers that are running the x86-based version of Windows Server 2008.

Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition (KB949219)

This package includes the following items:

• The updated version of the Hyper-V role
• The updated version of the Hyper-V Manager console and of the Virtual Machine Connection remote connection tool for x64-based versions of Windows Server 2008
•The updated version of the Integration Services for the following operating systems:
•Windows Server 2008, x64-based versions only
•Windows Server 2003, x86-based versions and x64-based versions
•Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), x86-based versions only
•Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3), x86-based versions only

To install the latest version of the Integration Services for x64-based versions of Windows Server 2008, you must install this package in the virtual machine and on computers that are running the x64-based version of Windows Server 2008.

To install the latest version of the Integration Services for Windows Server 2003, for Windows Vista SP1, and for Windows XP SP3, click Insert Integration Services Setup Disk on the Action menu in the Virtual Machine Connection dialog box.

Note On a Windows Vista-based computer, the updated Integration Services are listed in Programs and Features as KB949757.

Requirements for the update

•The release version of Windows Server 2008 must be installed on the computer.
•The "Update for Windows Server 2008 (KB949219)" package requires an x86-based version of Windows Server 2008.
•The "Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition (KB949219)" package requires an x64-based version of Windows Server 2008.

How to obtain the update

The following files are available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:

Update for Windows Server 2008 (KB949219), 32-bit versions

Download the Update for Windows Server 2008 (KB949219), 32-bit versions package now. (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=B7464B44-821D-4A7C-9D9C-7D74EC14437C)

Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition (KB949219), 64-bit versions

Download the Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition (KB949219), 64-bit versions package now. (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=DDD94DDA-9D31-4E6D-88A0-1939DE3E9898)

Note You must install the "Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition (KB949219)" package on a computer that is running the Hyper-V role before you can apply the package to the Windows Server 2008 virtual machines.

You can find the Hyper-V Manager MMC here, there's versions for both x64 and x86.

These tools allow you to manage and interact with an installation of Hyper-V from your Vista computer in exactly the same manner that you do on a full installation of Windows Server 2008. Note that you need to have SP1 installed on Vista in order for this to work.

Also be aware that installing the Hyper-V management tools will create a shortcut for our MMC snap-in the "Administrative Tools" folder - which is not displayed under Vista by default. You need to enable this folder under the start menu properties to have it displayed.

Also note that you will need to enable WMI between your computer (per this article: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa389290(VS.85).aspx).

Vista x64 Edition: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=450931F5-EBEC-4C0B-95BD-E3BA19D296B1&displaylang=en

Vista x86 Edition: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=BC3D09CC-3752-4934-B84C-905E78BE50A1&displaylang=en

Technorati Tags: Hyper-V,Windows Server 2008,Remote Management

Self-healing NTFS in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista

apawar — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:24:23 GMT

I ask this question to a customer who ask me about how Windows Server 2008 can help them achieve higher availability for their data.

Have you ever had some weird disk or system behavior on your system volume, discovered or believed it was disk corruption, and then ran “chkdsk c: /f” on it only to get that lovely message:
“Chkdsk cannot run because the volume is in use by another process. Would you like to schedule this volume to be checked the next time the system restarts (Y/N)”?

So then I ask them how would you like to reduce the likely hood of ever having to do a chkdsk. An the IT Pros in the room want to know more about a feature in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista called Self-healing NTFS. This is not one of the features that filters up into the marketing material for either Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008. However when I am talking to customers who want high availability for their data this feature is very important to talk about.

So what is is Self-healing NTFS and how can it help :

By default in Server 2008, self-healing NTFS is turned on and automatically detects and recovers/repairs/removes corruptions on the NTFS volume, boot sector, or files. It does this on the When any of these repairs are done, it will log a NTFS source event in the system event log (# 130 and 55 event IDs).

It’s going to possibly remove/delete a corrupted file someone is using on the disk? What if I lose data?

So lets look at this way – if the file is corrupted, it’s gone anyway and you can look at what was removed in the logs. Furthermore, there is a good possibility self-healing NTFS can fix the issue without the user ever even knowing there is a problem and you get all of the overall benefits listed below.

However, just for those who don’t want the automatic repair/deletions, there is a way to turn it on/off. It’s a pretty simple command: “fsutil repair set c: 0” where c: represents the volume you’d like to turn in off. Replace the 0 with a 1 and it will turn it back on the drive. When you turn it off, it will notify you a file is corrupt but do nothing to fix it.

Overall benefits (rephrased from the Changes in functionality from WS2003 SP1 guide below):
· Runs without requiring reboots on all volumes, except in extreme corruption conditions
· Preserves as much data as possible - based on the type of corruption
· Reduces failed file system mounting requests
· Provides better reporting for file system changes
· Recovers volumes when boot sector is readable, but no NTFS volume identified
· Validates and preserves data with critical system files

Technorati Tags: NTFS,Windows Server 2008,Fix,Chkdsk

High availability features of Windows Server 2008

apawar — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:09:34 GMT

Technorati Tags: High Availability,Winodws Server 2008,Clustering

Customer that I talk to want to know how they can providing high availability to mission-critical applications, services, and data. When services are down or fail, business continuity is interrupted, which can result in significant losses.

Windows Server 2008 supports two key high-availability features to help organizations meet their uptime requirements for their critical systems: Failover Clustering and Network Load Balancing (NLB). Failover Clustering and NLB in Windows Server 2008 have been improved to offer simplified management and more robust functionality. In addition, Windows Server Backup provides a basic backup and recovery solution in case of hardware failures.

Failover Clustering

Failover clustering can help you build redundancy into your network and eliminate single points of failure. The improvements to failover clusters (formerly known as server clusters) in Windows Server 2008 are aimed at simplifying clusters, making them more secure, and enhancing cluster stability.

Cluster Validation Tool

By using the new Cluster Validation Tool, you can perform tests to determine whether your system, storage, and network configuration is suitable for a cluster. The Cluster Validation Tool verifies that the nodes meet all of the operating system requirements, that the networks are configured correctly, that there are at least two separate networks on each node for redundancy, and that the storage subsystem supports the necessary Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) commands to handle cluster actions.
Setup Improvements

Once validated by the Cluster Validation Tool, the installation has been streamlined so that administrators can set up a cluster in one step. The cluster installation is completely scriptable, enabling administrators to automate cluster deployments.
Migration Improvements

When migrating a clustered service from one cluster to another, cluster settings can be captured and copied to another cluster. This reduces the time it takes to build the new cluster and configure the services.
Cluster Management and Operations Improvements

The cluster management interface has been optimized to make managing the cluster easier and more intuitive. Cluster management can be performed from the command line as well as the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) management console. Managing clustered shared folders is now easier to do because it can create customized views to quickly see which shared folders are clustered and which cluster a shared folder is available on.
Backup and Restore Improvements

Full integration with the Volume Shadow Copy Service makes it easier to back up and restore cluster configurations.
Cluster Infrastructure Improvements

The cluster quorum contains the configuration settings for the entire cluster. With Windows Server 2008, you can configure a cluster so that the quorum resource is not a single point of failure by using the majority node set or a hybrid of the majority node set and the quorum resource model. The cluster service can also isolate DLLs that perform actions incorrectly to minimize impact to the cluster, as well as verify consistency among copies of the quorum resource.
Storage Improvements

Administrators have better control and can achieve better performance with storage than was possible in previous releases. Failover clusters now support GUID partition table (GPT) disks that can have capacities of larger than 2 terabytes, for increased disk size and robustness. Administrators can now modify resource dependencies while resources are online, which means they can make an additional disk available without interrupting access to the application that will use it. And administrators can run tools in Maintenance Mode to check, fix, back up, or restore disks more easily and with less disruption to the cluster.
Network Improvements

Networking has been enhanced to support Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) as well as Domain Name System (DNS) for name resolution, removing the requirement to have WINS and NetBIOS name broadcasts. Other network improvements include managing dependencies between network names and IP addresses: If either of the IP addresses associated with a network name is available, the network name will remain available.
Security Improvements

Internet Protocol security (IPsec) can be used between clients and the cluster nodes, as well as between nodes so that you can authenticate and encrypt the data. Access to the cluster can also be audited to determine who connected to the cluster and when.

Network Load Balancing

Network Load Balancing (NLB) allows you to distribute TCP/IP requests to multiple systems in order to optimize resource utilization, decrease computing time, and ensure system availability. NLB has been improved in Windows Server 2008, including:

Next Generation TCP/IP

The TCP/IP protocol suite has been completely redesigned for Windows Server 2008. Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) are both supported natively by Windows Server 2008. NLB extends full support to IPv6 for all communication while maintaining IPv4 support.
Multiple IP Address Support

Each node in your NLB cluster can now have multiple dedicated IP addresses.
Microsoft ISA Server Integration

Microsoft ISA Server can support your mixed IPv4 and IPv6 infrastructure by allowing multiple IP addresses for each NLB node where IPv4 and IPv6 clients are used. ISA Server can also provide intrusion detection services to protect your NLB cluster.

Resources for Network Access Protection

apawar — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:47:33 GMT

I have been talking to customer regards the value of Window Server 2008 for over a year now. One of the most discussed topics is security and the advancements that Windows Server 2008 brings to an IT infrastructure. Within the security discussion Network Access Protection is a big topic and I thought I would be good to describe NAP and then link to a one page master list of resources for NAP at www.microsoft.com.

Network Access Protection (NAP) is a policy enforcement platform built into Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 that allows you to better protect your private network by enforcing compliance with computer health requirements—for example, having a firewall installed and enabled and having the latest operating system updates installed. Use the resources in this learning path to better understand how NAP can improve the overall health compliance of your network. The tools provided will also help you set up NAP so you can create customized policies and limit access for unhealthy devices.

For the list of resources related to NAP go to http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/learning/networkcompliance.mspx

Technorati Tags: Windows Server 2008,NAP,Security,Network Access Protection

Microsoft Application Support for Windows Server 2008

apawar — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:48:58 GMT

At the time of writing this blog entry here is a list of Microsoft applications

Technorati Tags: Windows,Server,2008,Application,Support

that work on Windows Server 2008 and indicative timeline for when new application will be supported on Windows Server 2008

Released

.Net Framework 2.0
.Net Framework 3.0 sp1
.Net Framework 3.5
Dynamics CRM 4.0
Exchange Server 2007 SP1
Forefront Security Server 1.0
Forefront Server Security 10.1
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 SP1
SQL Sever 2005 SP2
System Center Data Protection Manager 2007
System Center Operations Manager 2007
Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 SP1
Visual Studio 2008

1st Half of 2008

Dynamics AX 2009
System Center Configuration Manager 2007 SP1
System Center Essentials SP1
System Center Operations Manager 2007 SP1

2nd Half of 2008

Application Virtualiazation 4.5
Commerce Server 2007 SP2
Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 SP1
Host Integration Server 2006 SP1
SQL Server 2008
System Center Virtual Machine Manager ("vNext")
Windows Business Essentials Server
Windows Small Business Server 2008
Windows High Performance Computing Server 2008
Windows Storage Server 2008

Not Supported

ISA Server 2004
ISA Server 2006
SMS 2003
System Center Reporting Manager

Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008

apawar — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:35:58 GMT

Technorati Tags: Automated,Install,Kit,AIK,WAIK,Vista,SP1,Windows,Server,2008

Now that Windows Server 2008 and Vista SP1 have Released to Manufacture. Microsoft has also released the Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) which helps corporate IT professionals customize and deploy the Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 family of operation systems.

By using Windows AIK, you can perform unattended Windows installations, capture Windows images with ImageX, and create Windows PE images. This update is provided to you and licensed under the Windows Vista License Terms.

To download the Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Windows Vista SP1 and Windows Server 2008 go to http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=94bb6e34-d890-4932-81a5-5b50c657de08&DisplayLang=en

Upgrade paths available for Windows Server 2008

apawar — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 05:27:21 GMT

Technorati Tags: Windows,Server,2003,2008,R2,Upgrade,Server Core

If you are currently running:	You can upgrade to:
Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition (R2, Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2)	Full Installation of Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition Full Installation of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition
Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition (R2, Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2)	Full Installation of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition
Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition (R2, Service Pack 1 or Service Pack 2)	Full Installation of Windows Server 2008 Datacenter Edition

There are a couple of important things to remember here.

With the exception of Windows Server 2008 for Itanium, the table above applies to both x86 and x64 versions. However, cross-platform upgrades (x86 to x64 or vice-versa) are not supported.
It is also not possible to upgrade from a previous version of Windows to Windows Server 2008 Server Core Edition.