MEA Center of Expertise

Managing VMware from System Center 2012 SP1 - Virtual Machine Manager

2013-06-12T10:41:00Z

Virtual Machine Manager enables you to deploy and manage virtual machines across multiple hypervisor, including VMware ESX and ESXi hosts. The purpose of this post is to demonstrate how to add a VMware host from System Center Virtual Machine Manager. The process is rather easy and requires a few steps. This post assumes you have already setup your VMware environment including; VMware host and vCenter Server. For this demonstration we will use ESXi 5.1.

First step is to add a VMware vCenter Server. In the navigation pane in VMM click on Fabric, Add Resources, click on VMware vCenter Server

Fill in the computer name of the vCenter server. You will need to create a RunAs account that has permission to logon the vCenter Server.

You will prompted with Importing a certificate. Click Import.

Following the import of the certificate the job windows will display as follow:

After you have added the vCenter Server, you will need to add the ESX host. Right-click on All hosts in the Fabric navigation pane, click Add VMware ESX hosts and Clusters.

You will need to provide a RunAs account that has permission on ESX host itself. This is usually the root account of the ESX host. Click Next

Select your ESX host and click next.

The job windows will appear indicating that ESX host is being added.

In the navigation, click on Fabric, vCenter Server. Notice you will see the number of managed hosts. In our case, we only added one ESX host.

That’s all. In the following post I will demonstrate how to deploy virtual machines on our new managed ESX host through VMM.

In the meantime, you can find lots of information at the following link http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg610683.aspx

VMware Advantages whitepaper EXPOSED ( Part 1 )

2013-05-05T13:27:33Z

VMware has just released a white paper titled “why choose VMware for server virtualization” with detailed comparison between VMware Vsphere 5.1, windows server 2012 hyper-v and Citrix Xen server 6. The white paper is available here http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vmware_advantage.pdf

Microsoft has previously published a very similar white paper previously titled “competitive advantage of windows server 2012 hyper-v over VMware Vsphere 5.1”. The white paper is available here http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/8/E/E8ECBD78-F07A-4A6F-9401-AA1760ED6985/Competitive-Advantages-of-Windows-Server-Hyper-V-over-VMware-vSphere.pdf

A lot of the information in VMware white paper is misleading, especially that it is comparing against the capabilities of windows server 2012 without the muscle power of system center suite, which completes Microsoft virtualization and cloud solution.

I encourage you to read both white papers to have an overview of the visions and virtualization capabilities of both solutions.

I am going to run through the comparison tables in the VMware white paper point by point and explain my personal opinion on each point commenting on both Microsoft and VMware, I am not going to commend about Citrix Xen server.

The information below represents my personal view and analysis and does not represent Microsoft’s opinion

Table 1. Comparison of Key Hypervisor and Security Features among Virtualization Platforms

1- Scalability: windows server 2012 hyper-v is far more scalable than Vsphere 5.1, I tried to sum up some of the important scalability number is the below table

Point of comparison	Windows server 2012 Hyper-v	VMware Vsphere Ent plus 5.1
Active virtual machines per host	1,024	512
Maximum virtual disk size	64 TB	2 TB
Maximum nodes per cluster	64	32
Maximum VMs per cluster	8000	3000

To make a fair comparison, from numbers perspective both platforms are very scalable to handle current business critical applications with the exception of VMware 2TB virtual disk limitation which can be a limitation in the near future.

Although the white paper doesn’t show a red mark at Microsoft's side, but now I am wondering why there is even a right check mark on VMware side :)

2- Purpose-build hypervisor

VMware claims that hyper-v relies on windows OS. Hyper-v is a role component of windows server , the moment you enable hyper-v on a windows box you will be asked to restart multiple times , during these restarts the system architecturally changes where the hypervisor is slid between the hardware and the windows OS which is referred to as the parent partition after you enable hyper-v. The parent partition seamlessly integrates with guest operating systems (VMS) to provide high-performance enlightened I/O for storage, networking, graphics, and input subsystems from VM through to hardware via a high-speed in-memory VMBus. This microkernelized Hyper-V architecture enables the highest performance for mission-critical workloads running on a bare-metal hypervisor. In fact designing hyper-v as a role in windows server added a lot of enhancement to the overall solution where hyper-v can benefit from windows server 2012 features like Power Shell, de-duplication, storage spaces enhancement with server 2012 and SMB v 3.0 which allows you to store virtual machines on a file share. So I don’t see any deficiently in enhancing hyper-v capabilities with the already robust and feature rich windows server platform and changing the architecture of the system when hyper-v is enabled to a bare-metal hyper-visor technology.

3- Simplified patching

The document is mentioning that Microsoft is having unrelated patching, meaning updates that are not related directly to hyper-v. This can be eliminated by using hyper-v server 2012 edition, which doesn’t include all of the other windows components in the parent partition but only binaries for hyper-v, so you wouldn’t get updates for printer drivers and PowerShell for example, but you’d only get updates that are directly related to hyper-v.

System center manages patches and updates across physical hosts, virtual machines and client desktops, now extending the capabilities to UNIX, Linux and Mac OS X devices with SP1 release, also allowing extra capabilities like using distribution points hosted on windows azure (public cloud) which makes a lot of sense to desktop users always out of office. VMware is a company that is only offering solutions related to virtualization, so Microsoft extending their patching system beyond that might not make sense to them, but it would certainly make sense to customers demanding a solid single patching solution for their virtual, physical and desktop environments.

4- Advanced memory management

Microsoft uses dynamic memory to enhance memory utilization by dynamically adjusting the amount of memory available to virtual machines in response to changes in the workloads. The benefits of Dynamic Memory include higher virtual machine consolidation ratios and increased flexibility. VMware indeed uses a lot of techniques for memory improvements, but some of them really brings no value to the applications running.

Let’s for instance discuss, VMware Transparent page sharing: so how does TPS work? if you are running multiple VMs on the same server, the hypervisor would scan the Rams drop out duplicates from all the VMs and uses references to only one copy, think of it as storage de-duplication but for memory so if you have multiple VMS running the same OS there is a very high chance of finding duplicate areas in memory, sounds like a cool technology, right?. Now, the amount of RAM in VMs has increased dramatically since this technology came out. Memory was arranged in pages that were 4KB in size, the hypervisor would scan RAM, drop out duplicates, and track them very simple and neat. Nowadays, for several performance reasons, memory is arranged in much larger pages like 2MB. The chances of finding identical blocks of memory that are 2MB in size is very very low that the computing costs of doing that would cancel out any benefits from finding them so it became a computing overhead and not a benefit for performance. Because having large quantities of RAM is the norm and is not going away, Microsoft chose not to implement transparent page sharing which would end up as a computing overhead. Moreover technologies like ASLR (address space layout randomization) really leave minimum benefit of transparent page sharing.

5- Small attack surface area

The disk foot print should not be considered as performance measure or a measure for the attach surface, let me tell you why, the +5 GB the whitepaper is referring to as hyper-v foot print it not related to hyper-v at all, it’s related to windows operating system disk foot print which contains dormant files like un enabled roles or services, drivers for thousands of devices. This is what customers asked for, they wanted to be able to add role or features, install a new device seamlessly without needing to insert the windows CD or go online to fetch some files. So these files are dormant files, they resides on hard disk and they are never executed in memory unless they’ve been asked to do, so they don’t act as an attach surface , what really counts as an attack surface is the bits loaded into memory not disk. Microsoft virtualization stack loaded in memory is about 20 MB, where around 600 KB of them are for the hypervisor.

I’ve previously posted a separate blog about the foot print comparisons, for more information please check

http://blogs.technet.com/b/meacoex/archive/2010/10/16/microsoft-hyper-v-and-vmware-vsphere-footprints.aspx

6- Centralized security management

the white papers claims that Microsoft is using separate tools for security management, the truth is that these tools are components of the system center suite, and they are not only used to manage security for the virtual infrastructure but also for the physical infrastructure as well and with SP1 update system center endpoint protection is extended to Mac OS X and certain flavors of Linux. Microsoft’s focus is not limited only to the virtual infrastructure, but it offers a complete management suite for the physical and virtual infrastructure.

7- Agent less virtual machine protection

VMware claims the Microsoft hyper-v cannot be extended into having an agent less antivirus , this is very untrue , windows server 2012 hyper-v introduced the hyper-v extensible switch With built-in support enabling independent software vendors (ISVs) to create extensible plug-ins (known as Virtual Switch Extensions) that can provide enhanced networking and security capabilities, For example 5 nine has released a security manager for windows server 2012 hyper-v which provides agent less

Technorati Tags: hyper-v vs vmware,vmware advantages,windows server 2012 hyper-v,Vsphere 5.1,compare,hyperv,vmware

antivirus, virtual firewall and intrusion detection.

http://www.5nine.com/Docs/5nine_Security_Manager_White_Paper.pdf

Other vendors has released extensions for the hyper-v extensible switch like Cisco, NEC and InMon

8- Software defined security

VMware claims that hyper-v doesn’t have software defined security features, well security isn’t just different because the machine is virtualized, Microsoft offered unified end to end security solutions for both virtual and physical infrastructures not just virtual machines like VMware, making things more simple again using the windows server 2012 hyper-v extensible switch hyper-v security features are extended covering a lot of advanced security features. For example here is the cisco nexus 1000V plug-in extension for hyper-v http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9902/index.html

Conclusion

We’ve discussed the first comparison table posted by VMware and ran through the comparison points one by one. Microsoft offers end to end management solutions for datacenters where it include virtual and physical environments or maybe an extension to public cloud, a lot the points VMware claims that Microsoft does not offer as part of windows server 2012 hyper-v is actually true, Microsoft does not think of these capabilities from a virtualized environment perspective only. Microsoft understand that each customer will have a mix of virtual, physical and public cloud environment and that’s why Microsoft does not offer these as part of windows server 2012 hyper-v but as part of system center suite which makes it easier for the customer to manage their heterogeneous environments , when you closely think about it , VMware just adds complexity introducing new set of tools for customers to manage only their virtual environment , while using other existing tools to manage their physical environment.

CentOS mouse support in Hyper-V

2013-05-01T01:09:34Z

I've seen some mouse support issues on CentOS in Hyper-V. why reinvent the wheel if someone was kind enough to share the knowledge? Have a look...

Part 1: http://www.yusufozturk.info/linux-server/centos-5-6-desktop-installation-on-hyper-v-and-mouse-support-part1.html

Part 2: http://www.yusufozturk.info/linux-server/centos-5-6-desktop-installation-on-hyper-v-and-mouse-support-part2.html

Good luck :)

Hyper-V Replica Runbooks Example

2013-03-05T20:39:12Z

I've just came across this amazing set of Hyper-V Replica Runbooks. Give it a try and let me know how it went.

http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/Orchestrated-HVR-Planned-5ebecfc1

Enjoy!

SCCM 2012 SP1 Cloud-Based Distribution Point

2013-02-24T15:37:12Z

One of the new features in SCCM 2012 sp1 is cloud based distribution point which is hosted on Microsoft public cloud Windows Azure. When you use a cloud-based distribution, you can :-

Configure client settings to enable users and devices to access the content, and specify a primary site to manage the transfer of content to the distribution point.

Specify thresholds for the amount of content you want to store on the distribution point and the amount of content you want to allow clients to transfer from the distribution point.
Based on thresholds you defined, Configuration Manager can raise alerts that warn you when the combined amount of content you have stored on the distribution point is near the specified storage amount, or when transfers of data by clients are close to the thresholds that you defined.
You can use a cloud-based distribution point for fallback content location.
Support for both intranet and Internet-based clients.

However you can’t add PXE to cloud based distribution point.

In this blog I will show how you can step by step install and configure cloud based distribution point

You must have Azure account , you can create free trial account from windowsazure.com.
Let say that my primary site code is P01 and my SCCM server name is SCCM.coex.local. And we need to create cloud based DP named cloudDP.
Install offline CA and generate certificate with name “CloudDP.coex.local”.
Export “CloudDP.coex.local” twice one with Private Key “PFX” and another export without private key “.cer”.
Go to your Azure account –> settings --> and upload .cer certificate.
Copy you Azure subscription identifier.

7. Now we ready to provision Cloud distribution point on Azure , go to configuration manager console –> Administration –> expand Hierarchy Configuration and select cloud.

8. Right click on cloud and select “Create Cloud Distribution Point”.

9. Enter your Azure subscription identifier that we got in step 6.

10. Select “PFX” certificate “CloudDP.coex.local” that we exported in step 4.

11. Enter your service FQDN “CloudDP.coex.local” and press next.

12. Then Next.

13. SCCM will start to provision your new DP on Azure , Once “CloudDP.coex.local” status in Azure is running you can start distribute content to it.

14. Finally to allow your local client to communicate with new DP you must create “A” record for it in your local DNS. Go to Azure and get the public IP of “CloudDP.coex.local” and create the “A” record.

Migrate Windows XP to Windows 7 using SCCM 2012

2013-02-18T22:14:45Z

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how to migrate a Windows XP machine to Windows 7 using System Center Configuration Manager 2012. A few assumptions are made. You have a fully functional Configuration Manager site installed with USMT 4.0 packages installed (one of the prerequisites when install SCCM 2012). Your XP machine has Configuration Manager agent installed and active in the SCCM Console. You have a reference/captured image (Windows 7 image). (a post on how to do reference images soon)

What's the plan ?

Create a USMT Package

Distribute the USMT Package to a Distribution Point

Create a migration task sequence using an already captured Windows 7 image

Create, Edit, and Deploy an OS Migration Task Sequence

Create Deployment collection

Deploy the Task Sequence to the Migration Collection

Add Windows XP system to Migration Collection

Did it work ?

Create the USMT Package

Logon on the configuration manager machine, open the Configuration Manager Console

Navigate to Software library, Application Management, Packages

Right-Click Packages, Click Create Packages

On the Package screen, enter a name USMT 4.0

Select This package contains source files, click Browse

specify the source folder of the USMT 4.0 . (Usually in C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\USMT unless you've this folder to share location)

On Program Type, select Do not create a program. Click Next twice, then Close.

Distribute the USMT Package to a Distribution Point

Right-Click on USMT 4.0, click Distribute Content. On the General Screen click Next.

On the Content Destination Screen, click Add.

Click Distribution Point. Select your distribution point. Click Ok, Next, Close.

Create, Edit, and Deploy an OS Migration Task Sequence

Navigate to Software Library, Operating System, Task Sequences

Click Create Task Sequence

On the Create Task Sequence screen, Select Install an existing image package and Click Next

Click Browse, select your image name, click Ok

Select Always use the same administrator password and type your local admin password, click Next

You can join a domain or leave it at workgroup, up to you. If you select Join a domain , next to domain click Browse.

You can leave the domain OU empty. Select Always use the same administrator password , click OK, Next.

On the Install Configuration Manager screen, click Browse and select Configuration Manager Client Package , click OK, Next.

On the State Migration Screen, click Browse and select the Microsoft USMT 4.0 package, click OK.

Keep the remaining defaults and click Next.

On the Include Updates screen, if there are no software updates click next , otherwise select All software updates , Next.

On the Install Application screen, click Next, Next, Close

Select the task sequence you just created and click Edit

Select Apply Data Image 1 and click Remove

In the task sequence editor, select Partition Disk

Double-Click the second partition listed on the Properties tab

a new window will open Partition Properties

Select Use a percentage of the remaining free space (leave it to 100%)

Type OS in the Variable Name and click OK to close the partition properties.

Select the Apply Operating System task sequence step and change the Destination (at the bottom of the screen) drop-down to Logical drive letter stored in variable.

Type OS in Variable Name, click ok to close the task sequence editor.

Create Deployment collection

Navigate to Asset and Compliance, Overview, Device Collections.

Select Device Collections, and Click Create Device Collection

Enter a name of Windows 7 Migration

Click Browse next to limiting Collection

Select All Systems collections and then click Ok, then Click Next.

Uncheck the Schedule a full update on this collection group. Click Next

Ignore the warning for empty collection. Click Next, Close.

Deploy the Task Sequence to the Migration Collection

Navigate to Software library, Operating System, Task Sequences

Select the Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 with USMT task sequence

Right-Click , Deploy. Click Browse in the collection field , select the Windows 7 Migration collection. click ok.

Ignore the empty collection message. Click Next.

On the Deployment Settings screen, select Required as the purpose. (I.e unattended migration), click Next.

On the Scheduling Screen, Click New, Click Ok, Change the Return behavior to Never rerun deployed program.

Click Next four times and then Close.

Add Windows XP system to Migration Collection

Navigate to Assest and Compliance, Device Collections.

Select All Systems, click show members. Click Home.

Right-click xpmachine, Add selected items to an Existing Device collection select WIndows 7 Migration Collection.

Let the Magic begin ....

Logon onto the XPClient Machine with any user, but remember this user. You will logon with the same user after the migration.

Open Control Panel, Double Click Configuration Manager. On the action tab, select Machine Policy & Retrieval & Evaluation Cycle and click Run Now.

A lot of flickering is going to happen, and setup running in the background. Well done !

Did it work ?

Well, if you see Windows 7 and your pervious logon user still sees his/her files, then it worked!

Manage SUSE Linux Using System Center Configuration Manager 2012 SP1

2013-02-13T14:33:00Z

Manage SUSE Linux with system center Configuration Manager 2012 SP1

One of the biggest enhancement in system center configuration manager is the supportability of managing non-windows machines like Mac OS, Linux and UNIX.

Now you can manage using SCCM SP1 Mac OS 10.6 and 10.7 snow leopard and lion, and through that we can provide, push software distribution to the devices, settings management and also inventory capability so we have the ability for you to manage these devices, to push settings down to them that you need those devices to have but also pull back the rich reporting information that you’re used to getting in Configuration Manager with your Windows environment.

Additionally and this will be the focus of this blog that you can manage some version of Linux and Unix as per table below. You can make distribution on the server side and we provide support for a number of variations there a number of variants and that support includes the hardware and software inventory as well as software deployment for these devices.

Operating System	Version
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)	Version 4 (x86 and x64) Version 5 (x86 and x64) Version 6 (x86 and x64)
Solaris	Version 9 (SPARC) Version 10 (x86 and SPARC)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)	Version 9 (x86) Version 10 SP1 (x86 and x64) Version 11 (x86 and x64)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg682077.aspx#BKMK_SupConfigClientReq

So below step by step guide how to manage SUSE Linux Version 11 with SCCM 2012 SP1 RTM

1- I installed my SCCM 2012 SP1 as one primary site and all roles on the same server with site code “P01”

2- Download SUSE Linux from https://www.suse.com/ and install it as VM on top of Hyper-v. it’s not required to join to domain but you can if you want.

3- Download Microsoft System Center 2012 Service Pack 1 Configuration Manager - Clients for Additional Operating Systems

4- Extract SC 2012 CM SP1 RTM client for SLES.EXE and copy it to SUSE machine.

5- Ensure that you have execute permission on install file, if not execute following command

“chmod 777 install”

6- Install SCCM agent with following command

“sudo ./install –mp sccm.coex.local –sitecode P01 –fsp sccm.coex.local ccm-SLES11x86.1.0.0.4014.tar”

7- Once it finish will see the SUSE Linux machine in SCCM under all system collection

8- Approve the SUSE Linux machine

9- Then perform client policy refresh using following command “/opt/microsoft/configmgr/bin/ccmexec -rs policy”

10- Once it finishes, request the hardware inventory

“/opt/microsoft/configmgr/bin/ccmexec -rs hinv”

11- You can check log using "tail -f /var/opt/Microsoft/scxcm.log"

12- Finally you will be able to manage SUSE Linux machine

Guides étape par étape de la série « Déploiement de Test UC15 » des Communications Unifiées

2013-02-08T18:53:00Z

Introduction et aperçu du Déploiement de Test UC15

Ces guides étape par étape vont vous permettre d'acquérir une expérience pratique avec les nouveaux solutions et technologies des communications unifiées de Microsoft. Vous aurez la chance de passer par toutes les étapes requises pour déployer un environnement de test complet qui comporte Active Directory 2012 et Lync Server 2013. Vous aurez aussi la chance de découvrir comment exécuter une grande partie de ces étapes à partir de PowerShell.

Périodiquement, je vais publier un ou plusieurs guides étape par étape jusqu'à ce que vous aboutissiez à l'environnement ci-dessous. Toutes les étapes sont basées sur Technet et mon expérience personnelle. Et bien évidemment, vous pouvez déployer ces serveurs dans un environnement informatique de serveurs virtualisés.

Aperçu des guides étape par étape

Guide étape par étape 1 - Installation de Windows Server 2012 et Active Directory DS et CS

Guide étape par étape 2 - Installation de Office Web Apps Server 2013 pour Lync Server 2013

Guide étape par étape 3 - Installation de Lync Server 2013 Front End

Guide étape par étape 4 - Administration de Lync Server 2013 et configuration de son application cliente (à venir bientôt)

Guide étape par étape 5 - Installation des serveurs Lync Server 2013 Monitoring et Persistent Chat (à venir bientôt)

Spécifications techniques et prérequis

Vous pouvez utiliser des serveurs virtuels pour le déploiement de cet environnement de test. Pour cela, vous aurez besoin d'un serveur physique de 8 à 12 Go de mémoire RAM et de 4 à 8 cœurs de processeur(s).

Le tableau ci-dessous indique les spécifications des serveurs virtuelles et les prérequis (sources d’installations) nécessaires.

Nom du serveur	Système d’exploitation	Rôle	Processeur	Mémoire	Prérequis à télécharger
UC15-DC	Windows Server 2012	AD, DNS, CA	1 Core	1 Go RAM	Win Server 2012
UC15-WAC	Windows Server 2012	Office Web Apps Server	1 Core	1 Go RAM	Win Server 2012 OWA Server 2013
UC15-LYNC	Windows Server 2012	Lync Server	2 Core	4 Go RAM	Win Server 2012 Lync Server 2013 Silverlight
UC15-CLIENT	Windows 8	Client Windows 8	1 Core	1 Go RAM	Win 8 Enterprise 64-bit Office Pro Plus 2013

Allez-y, commencez tout de suite !

Linux Integration Services 3.4 for Hyper-V

2013-02-07T00:40:10Z

When installed in a supported Linux virtual machine running on Hyper-V, the Linux Integration Services Components provide:

•Driver support: Linux Integration Services supports the network controller and the IDE and SCSI storage controllers that were developed specifically for Hyper-V.

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

•Time Keeping: The clock inside the virtual machine will remain accurate by synchronizing to the clock on the virtualization server via Timesync service, and with the help of 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 by using the “Shut down” command.

•Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP) Support: Supported Linux distributions can use multiple virtual processors per virtual machine. The actual number of virtual processors that can be allocated to a virtual machine is only limited by the underlying hypervisor.

•Heartbeat: This feature allows the virtualization server to detect whether the virtual machine is running and responsive.

•KVP (Key Value Pair) Exchange: Information about the running Linux virtual machine can be obtained by using the Key Value Pair exchange functionality on the Windows Server 2008 virtualization server.

•Integrated Mouse Support: Linux Integration Services provides full mouse support for Linux guest virtual machines.

•Live Migration: Linux virtual machines can undergo live migration for load balancing purposes.

•Jumbo Frames: Linux virtual machines can be configured to use Ethernet frames with more than 1500 bytes of payload.

•VLAN tagging and trunking: Administrators can attach single or multiple VLAN ids to synthetic network adapters.

*Support Linux OS: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.7, 5.8, 6.0-6.3 x86 and x64

CentOS 5.7, 5.8, 6.0-6.3 x86 and x64

*Supported Hypervisor: Win 2008 R2 to Win 2012

*limitation: TCP offload, Volume Snapshot Backup, Dynamic memory

Important to Note:

Formatting a VHDX file with an ext3 file system might fail. To work around this issue, either use an ext4 file system, or create the .VHDX file with a smaller block size, such as 1 MB. Using the ext4 file system is recommended for production deployments of Linux on Hyper-V.
Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) did not include support for 4K drives until version 6.0, so be careful when deploying 4K disks!
The Hyper-V bridge.sys driver is not compatible with all WI-FI routers. This might result in a virtual machine not receiving an address through DHCP – this only occurs if the virtual switch is bound to a WI-FI NIC. The workaround is to configure the WI-FI with a static IP reservation for the WI-FI NIC, and then statically defining that IP on the WI-FI NIC.
If you want to use kdump functionality, configure kdump before installing the Linux Integration Services
If you have virtual machines configured to use more than 7 virtual processors , you should add “numa=off” to the GRUB boot.cfg to work around a known issue in the Linux kernel.
If you have virtual machines configured to use more than 30 GB RAM, you should add “numa=off” to the GRUB boot.cfg.

Content above from http://www.aidanfinn.com/?p=13521

Please welcome PConnect … Tomorrow's Skills, Today!

2012-09-09T19:41:00Z

As part of the continuous interest of Microsoft to leverage business with its partner ecosystem and its commitment to enable its valued partners with all possible means, Microsoft Center of Expertise (CoEx) has launched its new initiative, PConnect.

PConnect is a FREE program designed and offered specifically to enable the Microsoft Partners Ecosystem in Emerging Markets. It creates unique opportunities for knowledge exchange with the Center Of Expertise Experts within the technical and presales fields.

PConnect aims to enhance your competencies as a Microsoft Partner throughout Microsoft's several workloads. To achieve our goal, we designed a set of FREE online sessions as well as “Ask the Experts” panels. Moreover, PConnect also serves as a communication channel between Microsoft and its Partners; accordingly it will help shed more light on your strengths and competencies.

Accordingly, we would like to ask you to nominate members of your team who will be attending our FREE online sessions in these different workloads:

Business Productivity

Data Platforms

Unified Communications

Office 365

Data Center

Optimized Desktop

Developers Tools

Windows Apps

Microsoft Business Solutions

Microsoft Partner Sales Readiness

If you'd like to join the program please contact us at info@meapconnect.net and make sure to include your Partner Account Manager.

To be the first to know our latest news and updates, please make sure to visit our page on

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Please feel free to contact the PConnect team with any inquiries that you may have regarding the PConnect Program at info@meapconnect.net