The Windows Server “8” Beta Understand and Troubleshoot Guides (UTG) help IT administrators and architects develop awareness of key technical concepts, functionality, and troubleshooting techniques. This understanding enables a successful early adoption experience during the product evaluation phase.

• Technical overview
• Server role or feature installation, configuration, management tasks  
• Component architecture and interaction
• Methodology for troubleshooting

Note:
The UTGs do not provide deployment planning content.

The following UTGs are available:

Understand and Troubleshoot Activation Technologies in Windows Server “8” Beta
Understand and Troubleshoot AD DS Simplified Administration in Windows Server “8” Beta
Understand and Troubleshoot BitLocker in Windows Server “8” Beta
Understand and Troubleshoot Cluster-Aware Updating (CAU) in Windows Server “8” Beta
Understand and Troubleshoot DHCP Failover in Windows Server “8” Beta
Understand and Troubleshoot DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) in Windows Server “8” Beta
Understand and Troubleshoot Dynamic Access Control
Understand and Troubleshoot High Availability Printing in Windows “8” Beta
Understand and Troubleshoot Hyper-V Replica in Windows Server “8” Beta
Understand and Troubleshoot IP Address Management (IPAM) in Windows Server “8” Beta
Understand and Troubleshoot Microsoft Online Backup Service in Windows Server “8” Beta
Understand and Troubleshoot Printing in Windows Server “8” Beta
Understand and Troubleshoot Remote Access in Windows Server "8" Beta
Understand and Troubleshoot Remote Desktop Services Desktop Virtualization in Windows Server “8” Beta
Understand and Troubleshoot Remote Desktop Services in Windows Server “8” Beta
Understand and Troubleshoot Scale-Out File Servers in Windows Server "8" Beta
Understand and Troubleshoot Servicing in Windows Server “8” Beta
Understand and Troubleshoot Storage Spaces and Pools in Windows Server "8" Beta 
Understand and Troubleshoot Virtualized Domain Controller (VDC) in Windows Server “8” Beta

TechNet Events Presents
IT Camp: The Future of IT

Being What's Next in IT
The year 2012 is an exciting one for IT professionals, and it's a banner year for Microsoft. We've got valuable new products and solutions on the horizon, such as System Center 2012 and Windows Server 8, and we're developing fresh, innovative ways to help you manage your infrastructure.

Gearing up for the Future (Camp Part 1)
You've probably heard Microsoft's new slogan: "Be What's Next." For IT pros, however, it can be tough to simply keep up with what's happening today. Maybe you'd like to replace older versions of server operating systems and technologies, but you're losing sleep over the potential service disruptions.

In this session, we'll look at migration technologies that will help you transition to the latest versions of our solutions and take full advantage of Windows Server 2008. You'll also get a chance to play and tinker with these useful technologies. Making the transition to current products isn't always easy, but we have ways to help you get there – and get you ready for the future of IT and business productivity.

The Future is Sooner Than You Think (Camp Part 2)
Now that you're ready for what's next, aren't you eager to see it in greater detail? There's a new wave of IT organizations and professionals who are moving closer to true cloud computing. At the same time, many of us are still wondering how the cloud fits our IT environment, or how it will benefit our businesses.

In this camp session, we'll explore the future of the cloud. Together, we'll discover what System Center 2012 will bring to IT organizations – both in overall manageability and support for private, public and hybrid clouds. We'll also introduce and demonstrate the next version of Windows Server (codename Windows Server 8).

Preparation:
Do not fear death by PowerPoint. The IT Camp format is fun, lively, and interactive. It's much more than just a presentation – and to make the most of the day, we highly encourage you to bring your own laptop. For recommended system specs, click on the city nearest you.

Register now and save your seat for these FREE events in your local area.

For more information or to register,
visit > www.technetevents.com
OR CALL 1-877-MSEVENT

Provides a visual reference for understanding key Hyper-V technologies in Windows Server “8” Beta and focuses on Hyper-V Replica, networking, virtual machine mobility (live migration), storage, failover clustering, and scalability.

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=29189

Don’t forget…you can run Hyper-V on Windows 8 client now!

If you are running the Windows 8 Consumer Preview on a machine with VT extensions…fire it up.

I recorded a short video showing how to do it – it’s very easy.

I’m running Hyper-V on a Samsung Series 700T slate device!!!

http://www.prometric.com/microsoft/competencypacks

Purchasing the 3-pack will get your exam price to $105 from the regular $150.

Why build your business with Microsoft Private Cloud?

Accelerate your business growth with Microsoft Hyper-V-Enabled Private Cloud. These resources help you build and deploy Private Cloud solutions based on technologies your customers know and trust, like Windows Server® 2008 R2 Hyper-V and Microsoft® System Center.

http://www.partners-psp.com/privatecloud/Pages/PrivateCloud.aspx

You’ll need your LiveID associated with your Microsoft Partner ID to access the site. 

TechNet Launches Private Cloud Solution Hub
TechNet has a new home for IT architects, implementers, and managers looking for information and resources relating to Microsoft private cloud solutions.

* Lab Reports: Microsoft Exchange 2010 and Hyper-V R2 SP1 Performance Analysis: can support 20,000 simulated Exchange 2010 users

* Lab Reports: Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 and Hyper-V R2 SP1 Performance Analysis: can support 80,000 brokerage customers

* Lab Reports: Microsoft SharePoint 2010 and Hyper-V R2 SP1 Performance Analysis : can support more than 450,000 simulated users on a single server

We are pleased to announce the release of the new Linux 3.1 Integration Services and support for the following Linux distributions as supported guests within Hyper-V:

· Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.x (x86 & x64)

o Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.0 (x86 & x64)

o Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.1 (x86 & x64)

· CentOS Linux 6.x (x86 & x64)

o FYI, CentOS has only released 6.0 presently

This announcement is happening today at the Open Source Convention 2011.

The new Linux ISs are available here:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26837

The following features are included in the Linux 3.1 Integration Services release:

Driver support for synthetic devices: Linux Integration Services supports the network controller and the IDE and SCSI storage controller developed for Hyper-V.

Fastpath Boot Support for Hyper-V: Boot devices take advantage of the block Virtualization Service Client (VSC) to provide enhanced performance.

Timesync: The clock inside the virtual machine will remain synchronized with the clock on the virtualization server and utilize the pluggable time source device.

Integrated Shutdown: Virtual machines running Linux can be shut down from either Hyper-V Manager or System Center Virtual Machine Manager using the Shut Down command.

Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP) Support: Supported Linux distributions can use up to 4 virtual processors (VP) per virtual machine.

Heartbeat: Allows the virtualization server to detect whether the guest is running and responsive.

Key Value Pair Exchange (KVP): Information about the running Linux virtual machine can be obtained by using the Key Value Pair exchange functionality on the virtualization server.

System Center Operations Manager 2012 provides the monitoring component of cloud and datacenter solutions, to help you manage your datacenter and cloud environments by:

• Delivering flexible and cost effective enterprise-class monitoring and diagnostics while reducing the total cost of ownership by leveraging commodity hardware, with standard configurations to monitor heterogeneous environments.
• Helping to ensure the availability of business-critical applications and services through market-leading .NET application performance monitoring and diagnostics plus JEE application health monitoring.
• Providing a comprehensive view of datacenters, and private and public clouds.

• Predictable performance and availability of critical applications
  • End-to-end views of application health and topology
  • Establishment of application service-level delivery (SLAs)
  • Precise identification of application errors
• Flexible and cost-effective infrastructure monitoring
  • In-depth monitoring, diagnostics, and reporting for heterogeneous environments
  • Integrated network device monitoring and alerts
  • Simplified management infrastructure
• Comprehensive monitoring for your datacenter and cloud—on your terms
  • Integrated physical, virtual, and cloud management
  • Common console across datacenter and clouds
  • Rich reporting

• Documentation: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=213297
• Forums: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/systemcenteroperationsmanager
• Feedback: https://connect.microsoft.com/OpsMgr/Feedback
• Team Blog: http://blogs.technet.com/b/momteam/

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26804

Lifting from the Virtualization Team Blog here:  http://blogs.technet.com/b/virtualization/archive/2011/07/18/windows-server-8-sneak-preview.aspx

If you’re in IT you are likely pulled between an almost infinite need for more computing power to deliver business solutions and the ever increasing demands for greater agility, higher efficiency and lower costs. Fortunately, you can now deliver on these seemingly contradictory demands by leveraging the benefits of cloud computing with our public and private cloud solutions. And they are only going to get better.

Today we are excited to give you a sneak peek at the next step in private cloud computing by showing you just two of hundreds of new capabilities coming in the next version of Windows Server, internally code-named “Windows Server 8.”

At 36:50 of this online video we demonstrate how Windows Server 8 virtual machines will help you build private clouds of greater scale by supporting (at least…) 16 virtual processors fully loaded with business critical workloads like SQL Server. Then we show you how you can deliver improved fault tolerance and flexibility, without the added tax or complexity of additional hardware, tools and software licenses, by using the new built-in Hyper-V Replica feature. All it takes is a few clicks, a network connection and Windows Server 8.

But this is just the beginning! We’re looking forward to sharing more about Windows Server 8 at Microsoft’s BUILD conference, September 13-16, in Anaheim.

The Solution Accelerators team is pleased to announce the release of Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 6.0.

Download the MAP Toolkit 6.0

Organizations planning their journey to the cloud now have a tool to help make the planning process easier and faster. The Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 6.0 includes assessment capabilities to evaluate workloads for both public and private cloud platforms. With MAP 6.0, organizations now have the ability to identify workloads and estimate the infrastructure size and resources needed for both Windows Azure and Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track. Also, new to MAP 6.0, is an Office 365 client assessment, enhanced VMware inventory, and Oracle schema discovery and reporting. Expanded assessment and discovery capabilities from MAP help organizations simplify planning for their next migration project.

NEW FEATURES AND BENEFITS:

Windows Azure migration portfolio analysis

Hyper-V Fast Track onboarding

Expanded heterogeneous server environment inventory

Office 365 readiness

Windows Internet Explorer 9 migration assessment

Oracle schema discovery

Analyze application portfolios for a move to the Windows Azure Platform.

For organizations considering a move to the public cloud, the application evaluation process for migration involves many tools and considerations. The MAP 6.0 Windows Azure migration portfolio analysis feature makes the process easier by providing the ability to quantify and label applications and services in an organization’s IT environment for Windows Azure migration consideration.

The Windows Azure migration portfolio analysis helps organizations:

· Catalog all of the applications in their environment

· Estimate the needed capacity to run their applications on the Windows Azure platform

· Evaluate applications based on migration difficulty

· Stack rank applications in terms of migration suitability

· Obtain a TCO-ROI analysis for the application

Accelerate private cloud planning with Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track onboarding.

Organizations can plan their private cloud with Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track onboarding, a new assessment available with MAP 6.0.This assessment provides consolidation guidance and validated configurations with preconfigured Hyper-V Fast Track infrastructures, including computing power, network and storage architectures. Get a quick analysis of server consolidation on Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track infrastructures to help accelerate planning of physical to virtual (“P2V”) migration to Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track. Each assessment also provides guidance on the next steps forward in using Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track.

Identify migration opportunities with heterogeneous server environment inventory.

MAP has expanded its heterogeneous server environment inventory to include VMware Server, vSphere and VMware vCenter. Inventory and reporting of the number of servers and guests deployed and managed by VMware infrastructure helps organizations identify migration opportunities and accelerates the migration planning process. Because SQL Server, SharePoint and Exchange run better on Hyper-V, MAP 6.0 has the added capability of identifying Microsoft workloads deployed on VMware guests.

Assess client environments for Office 365 readiness.

For organizations considering a move to the cloud with Microsoft’s award-winning business productivity solutions, MAP 6.0 can help make the planning process easier and faster. MAP 6.0 includes an Office 365 client assessment which evaluates the compatibility of Office suites deployed in their environment with Office 365, via a hardware and software readiness assessment. This assessment helps organizations quickly determine which client computers in their environment are ready to use Office 365. The tool obtains machine level detail about why a given computer is not capable of using Office 365, and identifies whether the Office suites currently being used in your environment are compatible with Office 365.

Determine readiness for migration to Windows 7 and Windows Internet Explorer 9.

Organizations can simplify their migration to Windows 7 and Windows Internet Explorer 9 with MAP 6.0. The MAP Internet Explorer migration assessment—now updated for Internet Explorer 9 migration—inventories an organization’s environment and reports on deployed web browsers, Microsoft ActiveX controls, and add-ons, and then generates a migration assessment report and proposal for easier migration to Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 9.

Discover heterogeneous database instances for migration to SQL Server.

MAP 5.5 included heterogeneous database inventory and reporting capability to help organizations accelerate migration to SQL Server from MySQL, Oracle, and Sybase instances. MAP 6.0 adds to this capability with Oracle schema discovery and reporting of the size and use of each schema. Reporting also provides an estimate of the complexity of migration and suggests candidates for migration to SQL Server. Organizations can use this information to determine the total cost of ownership in maintaining Oracle and the potential ROI from switching to SQL Server.

The Virtual Machine Manager Self-Service Portal 2.0 SP1 (VMMSSP) is a fully supported, partner-extensible solution that customers can use to pool, allocate, and manage their computing, network, and storage resources to deliver the foundation for a private cloud platform in their datacenter.

Get it here:

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26701

Welcome IBM Tivoli Netcool/Omnibus & VMware vSphere Orchestrator integration packs to the System Center 2012 family. This is just the beginning of our commitment to the integration pack diversity! VMware vSphere and IBM Netcool are among the most requested IPs by our customer and will allow customers to integrate system Center Orchestrator with the latest versions of the 3^rd party products. 

Integration pack supports connection to IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus v7.3 with 5 activities

Integration pack supports connection to VMware vSphere  v4.1 with 30 activities

Beta IPs are available for TAP members on Connect and on DLC for the general public: IBM Netccol IP and VMware vSphere

Installation guides for both IPs can be found on Technet

The Solution Accelerators team is pleased to announce the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit 6.0 Beta.

Join the MAP 6.0 Beta

Members, bookmark this link to get the latest project details

Planning your journey to the cloud just got a bit easier. The next release of the Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit—version 6.0 Beta—includes assessment capabilities to evaluate workloads for both public and private cloud platforms. With MAP 6.0 Beta, you now have the ability to identify workloads and estimate the infrastructure size and resources needed for both Windows Azure and Hyper-V Fast Track. Also new to MAP 6.0 Beta is the Office 365 client assessment, enhanced VMware inventory, and Oracle schema discovery and reporting. Expanded assessment and discovery capabilities from MAP help you streamline planning for your next migration project. Plan what's next with MAP.

NEW FEATURES AND BENEFITS:

Analyze your portfolio of applications for a move to the Windows Azure Platform.

Are you considering a move to the public cloud for your portfolio of applications? The application evaluation process for migration to the public cloud involves many tools and considerations. The MAP 6.0 Beta Azure migration portfolio analysis makes the process easier by providing the ability to quantify and label applications and services in your organization's IT environment for Windows Azure migration consideration.

The Azure migration portfolio analysis helps you:

· Catalog all of the applications in your environment

· Estimate the needed capacity to run your applications on the Windows Azure platform

· Evaluate applications based on migration difficulty

· Stack rank applications in terms of migration suitability

· Obtain a TCO-ROI analysis for the application

Accelerate planning to private cloud with Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track onboarding.

Planning your private cloud just got easier. Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track onboarding, a new assessment available with MAP 6.0 Beta, provides consolidation guidance and validated configurations with preconfigured Hyper-V Fast Track infrastructures including computing power, network and storage architectures. Get a quick analysis of server consolidation on Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track Infrastructures to help accelerate your planning of P2V migration to Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track. Each assessment also provides guidance on next steps forward using Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track.

Identify migration opportunities with heterogeneous server environment inventory.

MAP has expanded its heterogeneous server environment inventory to include VMware Server, vSphere and VMware vCenter. Inventory and reporting on the number of servers and guests deployed and managed by VMware infrastructure helps you identify migration opportunities and accelerates the migration planning process. Because SQL Server, SharePoint and Exchange run better on Hyper-V, MAP 6.0 Beta has the added capability of identifying Microsoft workloads deployed on VMware guests.

Assess your client environment for Office 365 readiness.

If you are considering a move to the cloud with Microsoft’s award-winning business productivity solutions, MAP 6.0 Beta can help make your planning process easier and faster. MAP 6.0 Beta includes an Office 365 client assessment which evaluates the compatibility of Office suites deployed in your environment with Office 365, via a hardware and software readiness assessment. This assessment helps you quickly determine which client machines in your environment are ready to use Office 365. The tool obtains machine level detail about why a given machine is not capable of using Office 365, and identifies whether the Office suites currently being used in your environment are compatible with Office 365.

Determine readiness for migration to Windows 7 and Windows Internet Explorer 9.

Simplify your organization's migration to Windows 7 and Windows Internet Explorer 9 with MAP 6.0 Beta. The MAP Internet Explorer migration assessment—now updated for Internet Explorer 9 migration—inventories your environment and reports on deployed web browsers, Microsoft ActiveX controls, and add-ons, and then generates a migration assessment report and proposal for easier migration to Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 9.

Discover heterogeneous database instances for migration to SQL Server.

MAP 5.5 brought you heterogeneous database inventory and reporting capability to help you accelerate migration to SQL Server from MySQL, Oracle, and Sybase instances. MAP 6.0 Beta adds to this capability with Oracle schema discovery, and reporting on the size and use of each schema. Reporting also provides an estimate of the complexity of migration and suggests candidates for migration to SQL Server. Use this information to determine total cost of ownership for maintaining Oracle and the potential ROI from switching to SQL Server.

In a previous post, I described how you can use SCOM to create a custom alert that watches the security group on your DC’s for changes to the “Domain Admins” security group.

I mentioned in that post that I was using this as a backdrop for an Opalis demo that uses that alert to start a workflow that disables the user account, removes it from the domain admins group, populates a ‘notes’ field in AD with information about why the account was disabled, clears the alert in SCOM and finally sends an Exchange email with the details to the administrator.

Folks have asked for more details on the Opalis workflow behind this – so here you go.

You can download the OIS file here and import into Opalis to see what I did.

Let’s get started…

First off, here’s the workflow I use:

Here are the steps:

1) Monitor Alert:  We’re watching for any NEW alerts in SCOM that contain the string “DAACESS” in the CustomField2 property (there's more detail on this in the blog post I reference above)

2) Query XML:  We need to query the description CONTEXT from our SCOM alert to extract the CN name for the offending user account that was added to the domain admins group

*You can find what you want to query from by clicking the ‘alert context’ tab on the SCOM alert.  In this case we want the full CN of the user account so we use “MemberName”.

3) Disable User:  Using the result from the XML query, we’re disabling the user account

4) Remove User From Group:  Next, we remove the offending account from the domain admins group.  In my case, I just setup a variable for the domain admins group – you can pull that via XML as well if you want.

* Here’s my detail for the ‘group’ variable

5) Update User: We can update the “notes” field in the AD account to put some detail around why the account was disabled (there are other options you can pick as well if you want to update other properties – just use the ‘select fields’ to choose)

6) Update Alert:  Now, we’re going to go ahead and close the alert in SCOM since we’ve successfully remediated this issue.  Alternatively,  you could branch here if you had a failure and send an email or alert in some other fashion (or start another workflow)

7) Send Exchange Email:  Finally, we’re going to send an email to the administrator with all the details

* You’ll need to have an Outlook profile configured to send Exchange email – on the connect tab, you’ll specify the name of the profile you’ll use.  Also, if you want proper formatting (line breaks, etc…) make sure you use ASCII formatting

This sends the following email:

That should get it done.  Enjoy!

One of the demos that I do in my lab uses an Opalis workflow that is triggered by a SCOM rule watching the security event log on my domain controller for any changes to the domain admins group.  Once the alert gets triggered in SCOM, Opalis picks it up, disables the offending account, removes it from the domain admins group, populates the ‘notes’ field with some text indicating why the account is disabled, closes the alert in SCOM and sends an Exchange email to the administrator.

This blog post describes how to configure the SCOM piece.  If you want to know how to configure the Opalis piece – I created a separate post HERE.

I’ve been asked a number of times how I did this in SCOM.  Here you go.  It’s pretty simple. 

The first thing you’ll have to do – if you haven’t done this already – is to enable auditing on your DC’s.  This is done via GPO.  I won’t cover the details of that here – but this KB will walk you through the process.  Basically, auditing of directory services objects (add/moves/changes) is not enabled by default - you have to do that manually and it's a prerequisite to making this process work properly.

Alright, enough of that...let's head over to the SCOM Admin Console...

Authoring –> Management Pack Objects –> Rules –> Create a New Rule

Essentially what we’re doing here is creating an alert that gets triggered by a specific event id in the DC’s security log.  In our case, it’s 4728 for Server 2008 R2 domain controllers.  If your DC’s are not 2008 R2, the event id is different – you’ll have to look it up.

Here are the steps.  Make sure you create a custom management pack – don’t stick this in the default…it’s not good practice.

Make sure that you select a DC in the ‘target computer’ field:

Data Source is where we configure the event id and parameters – Response is where we configure the description field of the actual event and any other customizations (in our case populating a custom field):

Click the “…” to configure “Parameter 3” – for the values, you’ll just type those in:

By the way – here’s what the actual event log looks like:

You do have options here – what priority level and severity (affects how it alerts in SCOM) and then what you want the alert description to look like.  You can also make changes to the Alert Name which is what you’ll see top line in the ‘alert view’ in SCOM:

In the Custom Fields section, I used #2 and populated that with the text DAACCESS.

I populate CustomField1 with the domain\username information (I use that in the Opalis workflow)

The reason I did this is because that’s how I’m telling Opalis what to look for when an event pops in SCOM.  Now, every time this rule gets triggered and this alert pops in SCOM, Opalis will pick it up and start our workflow.

Good stuff!  Hope this was helpful!

At TechEd we announced a new addition to the Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track Program offered from Cisco and NetApp. Hyper-V Cloud Fast Track partner offerings provide flexibility and choice while reducing risk and increasing the speed of deployment. You can find more about it here:

http://www.microsoft.com/virtualization/en/us/hyperv-cloud-fasttrack.aspx

Below are links to some of the announcements yesterday.

===========================================================================

Microsoft Blog:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/virtualization/archive/2011/05/17/hear-what-netapp-and-cisco-are-saying-after-joining-the-hyper-v-fast-track-program.aspx

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2011/may11/05-16TechEd11PR.mspx

NetApp Blog:

http://blogs.netapp.com/msenviro/2011/05/netapp-hyperv-cloud-fast-track-with-cisco.html

http://www.prwire.com.au/print/netapp-simplifies-customers-transition-to-private-cloud-through-collaboration-with-cisco-and-microsoft

The CentOS Linux distribution is now supported as a guest within Hyper-V. Please see Sandy Gupta’s blog post:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/openness/archive/2011/05/15/expanding-interoperability-to-community-linux.aspx

==============================================

FAQ

==============================================

Q: What CentOS versions are supported?

A: CentOS 5.2 through 5.6 (32-bit and 64-bit versions) are now supported as Hyper-V guests. Support will cover installation issues as well as configuration issues.

===========================================================================

Q: Will you be adding support for additional Linux distributions?

A: We continue to evaluate adding additional Linux distributions to the supported list.

===========================================================================

Q: What version of the Linux Integration Services support CentOS?

A: The existing Hyper-V Linux Integration Services for Linux Version 2.1 support CentOS. The following features are included in the Hyper-V Linux Integration Services 2.1 release:

· Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP) Support: Supported Linux distributions can use up to 4 virtual processors (VP) per virtual machine.

· Driver support for synthetic devices: Linux Integration Services supports the synthetic network controller and the synthetic storage controller that were developed specifically for Hyper-V.

· Fastpath Boot Support for Hyper-V: Boot devices take advantage of the block Virtualization Service Client (VSC) to provide enhanced performance.

· Timesync: The clock inside the virtual machine will remain synchronized with the clock on the host.

· Integrated Shutdown: Virtual machines running Linux can be gracefully shut down from either Hyper-V Manager or System Center Virtual Machine Manager.

· Heartbeat: Allows the host to detect whether the guest is running and responsive.

· Pluggable Time Source: A pluggable clock source module is included to provide a more accurate time source to the guest.

The Linux Integration Services are available via the Microsoft Download Center here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=eee39325-898b-4522-9b4c-f4b5b9b64551

===========================================================================

Q: I’m unfamiliar with the different Linux distributions available. Can you tell me more about CentOS?

A: From Wikipedia:

CentOS is a community-supported, mainly free software operating system based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). It exists to provide a free enterprise class computing platform and strives to maintain 100% binary compatibility with its upstream distribution. CentOS stands for Community ENTerprise Operating System.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux is available only through a paid subscription service that provides access to software updates and varying levels of technical support. The product is largely composed of software packages distributed under either an open source or a free software license and the source code for these packages is made public by Red Hat.

CentOS developers use Red Hat's source code to create a final product very similar to Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Red Hat's branding and logos are changed because Red Hat does not allow them to be redistributed.

CentOS is available free of charge. Technical support is primarily provided by the community via official mailing lists, web forums, and chat rooms. The project is not affiliated with Red Hat and thus receives no financial or logistical support from the company; instead, the CentOS Project relies on donations from users and organizational sponsors.

With the recent release of Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1, those of you running Hyper-V are probably looking for an easy way to start updating your integration components.  I'd guess that the primary reason for this would be so you could leverage the new dynamic memory feature in your VM's, which for Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 VM’s requires either the IC’s to be updated or the full installation of the service pack.

If you have VM’s that you aren’t ready to apply the full SP – or Windows 2003 R2 / Windows 2008 VM's that you want to update and are looking for a way to shave some serious time off this process, then here’s one way to do it.

I ran across Charles Joy’s blog post on this subject.  He has everything that you need to know – including the entire workflow that you can download and import directly in to Opalis.  You’ll just have to match up the variables and other published data to your environment – but the hard part (the workflow) is done for you.

You can find the blog post HERE.  Scroll to the bottom of the page for the zip file link to download the workflow.

I ran through the process in my own environment (link to short video of my experience).  One thing that I don’t think Charles mentions anywhere in his video or blog is that the VM’s that you are running this workflow against MUST HAVE WINRM enabled.  He makes mention that the powershell script uses WinRM, but I glanced over that and had that component error out on me on a few test runs until I figured out that the VM I was attempting to manipulate didn’t have WinRM configured.

If you are in the same boat – it’s an easy fix.  Simply open a cmd prompt in the VM and type:

winrm quickconfig

Say yes to the prompts and off you go.

Don't forget to check out the Opalis Survival Guide - everything you need to know to get up and running with Opalis!

Enjoy!

A new time-management application takes information from Exchange and presents it to users in a colorful, detailed Excel dashboard.  Try out the Calendar Analytics app, a free download from the Microsoft Business Intelligence team.

Download Calendar Analytics.

Watch Eric Swift and Tom Casey discuss Calendar Analytics and the secrets of time management.

Known issues can be found here.

We are thrilled to announce availability of the HD-quality video recordings – FREE – on TechNet Edge, MS Showcase, the Zune Marketplace, iTunes!

Where do I go for this great training?

The HD-quality video recordings of this course are on TechNet Edge. If you’re interested in one specific topic, I’ve included links to each module as well.

Entire course on TechNet Edge: “Microsoft Virtualization for VMware Professionals” Jump Start

· Links directly to specific modules

o Virtualization Jump Start (01): Virtualization Overview

o Virtualization Jump Start (02): Differentiating Microsoft & VMware

o Virtualization Jump Start (03a): Hyper-V Deployment Options & Architecture | Part 1

o Virtualization Jump Start (03b): Hyper-V Deployment Options & Architecture | Part 2

o Virtualization Jump Start (04): High-Availability & Clustering

o Virtualization Jump Start (05): System Center Suite Overview with focus on DPM

o Virtualization Jump Start (06): Automation with Opalis, Service Manager & PowerShell

o Virtualization Jump Start (07): System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012

o Virtualization Jump Start (08): Private Cloud Solutions, Architecture & VMM Self-Service Portal 2.0

o Virtualization Jump Start (09): Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Architecture | Part 1

o Virtualization Jump Start (10): Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) Architecture | Part 2

o Virtualization Jump Start (11): v-Alliance Solution Overview

o Virtualization Jump Start (12): Application Delivery for VDI

Links to course materials on Born to Learn

Where can people learn more?

Clearly, virtualization experts worldwide are taking a new look at Microsoft Virtualization. After this Jump Start, we hope you’ll want to learn why. Check out the Microsoft Learning “Virtualization Training Portal” to better understand virtualization-specific certifications and where to find instructor-led classes to help you and your team. Of course, these videos will also be posted to the Microsoft Virtual Academy (MVA) where you can learn at your own pace.

The Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3 provides storage (disks) over a TCP/IP network. It turns a computer running Windows Server into a storage device which provides shared block storage. You can use Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3 to perform a variety of storage-related tasks, including the following:

• Provide shared storage for Hyper-V to enable high availability and live migration
• Consolidate storage for multiple application servers (i.e. Microsoft SQL Server or Hyper-V)
• Provide shared storage for applications hosted on a Windows failover cluster
• Enable diskless computers to boot remotely from a single operating system image using iSCSI.

The Microsoft iSCSI Software Target 3.3 is an economical solution suited for a development or test environment and a small, medium, or branch office production environment. It enables storage consolidation and sharing on a Windows Server by implementing the iSCSI (Internet Small Computer Systems Interface) protocol, which supports SCSI-block access to a storage device over a TCP/IP network. For details on how to manage iSCSI targets, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg232606(WS.10).aspx.

Go get it @ http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=45105d7f-8c6c-4666-a305-c8189062a0d0. See additional information at http://blogs.technet.com/b/virtualization/archive/2011/04/04/free-microsoft-iscsi-target.aspx.

Jim and Travis put together a great ‘how-to’ video on getting a good workflow going with Service Manager and SCVMM using Opalis.  They show you step-by-step how to configure each object and how to configure Service Manager – including creating the management pack using the Service Manager Authoring Tool (you can download this HERE).

http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager/archive/2010/11/16/how-to-automate-vm-provisioning-in-20-minutes-using-service-manager-and-opalis.aspx

I was able to get this up and running in my lab – works great and is an effective demo on how to integrate SCSM, Opalis and SCVMM.

I wanted to take it a step further though.  How would you do this if you had a VMware vSphere environment?

Well, the good news is - it's not that hard.  :)  Here’s a link to a video I recorded that shows the entire process of provisioning using VMware.

1) Go back and watch the video on the Service Manager Blog.  In my case, instead of using "VM" in the templates, forms, lists, etc..., I used "VMware".  You'll essentially re-create that entire CR process - but you'll do it for VMware.

2) Copy and paste your Opalis workflow (just use the mouse and select all the objects) to a new policy.  In a little bit, you'll see which SCVMM objects you'll need to replace with those from the VMware vSphere Integration Pack.

3)  You’ll need to make sure that you have the VMware vSphere Integration Pack installed on your Opalis Action Server and you’ll see it in the Opalis Client:

4) You'll also want to go ahead and create the VM's (using Jim and Travis' example - SMCLONE-SMALL, SMCLONE-MEDIUM and SMCLONE-LARGE) on your ESX hosts.  For time sakes, I created a blank VMDK so that the cloning process takes a matter of seconds instead of minutes (or more) for fully installed VM's.

For reference – here’s the differences between the two workflow’s.  The first is the one that Jim and Travis show you in the video.  The second shows the objects you can use to do the exact same thing in your VMware environment.

In my case, I have a 4.0 cluster using vCenter.

Now with VMware:

As you can see, you’ll need to replace the three VM related objects with the appropriate ones from the VMware IP.

Here’s what my settings look like for those 3 objects:

The “GET VM LIST” is pulling published data from the bus – same as the GET VM in the SCVMM workflow:

The “CLONE WINDOWS VM” is a little different from the CREATE VM FROM VM – it’s pretty straightforward, but a few more things to consider.  Yours won’t look like mine – it will be unique to your environment – but a couple things you need to consider:

1) In the “Source VM/Template Path” you’ll need to use published data from “MAP PUBLISHED DATA” to grab the VM Image Name.  This ensures that you are in the path for the appropriate template.

2) In the “New Virtual Machine Name” field – you’ll want to use a prefix and (in my case) use an underscore and then pull a unique field from somewhere in the bus to uniquely identify the VM you are creating.  In my case, I’m pulling the VM ID from the MONITOR OBJECT.

Finally, for the “ADD VM DISK” object, you’ll want to pull “New Virtual Machine Name” from the bus from the “CLONE WINDOWS VM” object.

The DiskSize comes from the original MONITOR OBJECT and is the value that was defined originally in the Service Manager change request form.

The last step, if you did a copy/paste from your SCVMM workflow and just replaced these 3 objects to work with VMware is to go back through the final 3 objects to make sure that any data that was pulled from the bus is accurate.  If you have data being pulled from any of the objects that were deleted or changed names – your workflow isn’t going to work.

Final Result.  I stuck with the same naming convention that Jim and Travis used in their demo, so each new VM that’s created starts with DEMOVM_ and then is appended with the CR# in Service Manager.  I like using that, as it makes it easy to correlate the change request with the VM.  Of course, another option here is to modify the orignial CR form in Service Manager to include the VM Name (as well as any other paramters that Opalis can modify on a VM, incuding things like RAM and Network Adapters, etc...).  In this case, the only other form option was the size of the VM Disk we were going to add.  That could certainly be optional and you could branch the workflow if the requestor didn't want/need an additional VM Disk attached.

The “ADD VM DISK” worked flawlessly as well.

This is a great example of the power of System Center - regardless of which hypervisor you choose!

Finally, Don't forget to check out the Opalis Survival Guide - everything you need to know to get up and running with Opalis!

Good luck and enjoy!