UPDATE: At the end of this step-by-step article, I've also included a downloadable lab guide and a 130-line PowerShell script for initial provisioning. The PowerShell script helps to reduce the initial configuration time by automating the provisioning of a new Windows Azure Storage account, Virtual Network...

UPDATE: I'm updating this article to also include a new Step-by-Step video and migration guide that was recently released by our Cluster team to provide guidance for using the Migrate a Cluster Wizard to migrate CLUSTERS of Hyper-V Server hosts from 2008 R2 to 2012, in addition to the other migration...

This always makes for interesting IT Pro discussions … Best practices for virtualizing heavy-duty application workloads, such as large SQL Server installations. With the launch of Windows Server 2012, we've greatly improved the ability to allocate large amounts of compute, network and storage...

This article is Part 2 in a two-part series on building a FREE Hyper-V Server 2012 Cluster to support highly available virtual machines as a foundation to a Private Cloud solution. If you missed it, be sure to check out Part 1 of this article series on the initial steps for building Hyper-V Server 2012...

Leverage the FREE Hyper-V Server 2012 to provide an Enterprise-ready Private Cloud Foundation! Overhead at one of my recent IT Pro events: “ The FREE Hyper-V Server 2012 sounds AWESOME! With the same features and scalability as the Hyper-V role in the full Windows Server 2012 OS, I could...

This article is Part 25 in a series of articles on the " Top 31 Favorite Features in Windows Server 2012 " with my fellow IT Pro Technical Evangelists. Be sure to follow them on Twitter and check out their blogs this month for the other parts of this series: Kevin Remde - Read Kevin's Full of I...

This study guide is provided as part of the Windows Server 2012 " Early Experts " Challenge and steps through the resources that I personally used when preparing for the following exam objectives on Exam 70-410, Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2012 : Configure Server Roles and Features...

In the past, managing and sharing NTFS folders could be a real ordeal – there were different tools for managing NTFS permissions vs shared folders and most IT Pros generally used these tools on a server-by-server basis from each server’s console. Server Manager to the rescue! In Windows...

This article is Part 19 in a series of articles on the " Top 31 Favorite Features in Windows Server 2012 " with my fellow IT Pro Technical Evangelists. Be sure to follow them on Twitter and check out their blogs this month for the other parts of this series: Kevin Remde - Read Kevin's Full of I...

Windows Server 2012 and our FREE Hyper-V Server 2012 include native teaming of network adapters to provide load balancing, bandwidth aggregation and failover capabilities using standard Ethernet NICs. IT Pros have been really interested in NIC teaming, because it can provide the extra bandwidth and fault...

This article is Part 15 in a series of articles on the " Top 31 Favorite Features in Windows Server 2012 " with my fellow IT Pro Technical Evangelists. Be sure to follow them on Twitter and check out their blogs this month for the other parts of this series: Kevin Remde - Read Kevin's Full of I...

This article is Part 14 in a series of articles on the " Top 31 Favorite Features in Windows Server 2012 " with my fellow IT Pro Technical Evangelists. Be sure to follow them on Twitter and check out their blogs this month for the other parts of this series: Kevin Remde - Read Kevin's Full of I...

This article is Part 6 in a series of articles of the " Top 31 Favorite Features in Windows Server 2012 " with my fellow IT Pro Technical Evangelists. Be sure to follow them on Twitter and check out their blogs this month for the other parts of this series: Kevin Remde - Read Kevin's Full of I...

Hyper-V Replica is a new built-in feature of both Windows Server 2012 and our FREE Hyper-V Server 2012 products. Hyper-V Replica enables Hyper-V hosts or clusters to enable distance replication of running VMs to remote Hyper-V hosts over a standard IP WAN connection. It provides a very cost-effective...

This article is Part 4 in a series of articles of the " Top 31 Favorite Features in Windows Server 2012 " with my fellow IT Pro Technical Evangelists. Be sure to follow them on Twitter and check out their blogs this month for the other parts of this series: Kevin Remde - Read Kevin's Full of I...

Server Manager in Windows Server 2012 has been redesigned as a new cool multi-server management console, making it as easy to manage multiple servers remotely as you can from a local server's console - whether those servers are physical, virtual or hosted in the cloud! Not familiar with the new Server...

Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 include support for over 350 new group policy settings ...This brings the total number of manageable system policies via Active Directory group policy to over 3,600 policy settings! Below, I've summarized the new categories of group policy settings that I'm most excited...

The Windows Server 2012 " Early Experts " Challenge free online study group has received a ton of interest and positive feedback. Over the coming weeks, we'll be targeting study and hands-on resources together for preparing for Microsoft Certification Exam 70-410, Installing and Configuring Windows Server...

Mike Halsey , a Microsoft MVP and author of several books on Windows 7 and Windows 8, has recently released one of the best short videos I've seen on the topic of using the new Windows 8 Start Screen. I've included the video below and I highly recommend leveraging it with any users that are getting started...

Have you recently downloaded Windows 8 RTM ? In this article, we'll introduce you to the new options available for making Backup and Recovery in Windows 8 easier than ever, including Windows 8 File History , launching Windows System Backup and Windows 8 Refresh & Reset PC . Windows 8 File History...

Did you download Windows 8 Enterprise using your MSDN or TechNet subscription for testing in your lab? As the full-featured "business edition" of Windows 8, the Enterprise SKU defaults to using corporate Volume License activation on a business network. On a business network, this process provides a simplified...