• Que Nguyen's Microsoft techology blog

    Windows 8 overview

    • 0 Comments

     * Windows Server 8 Overview webcast on Channel9

    Getting Started with Windows 8

    - Windows Key (Windows icon): switch to Home screen

    - Home screen, then type some characters: search for Apps (and Settings and Files as well)

    - Home screen: right click a Tile to see the Advanced button in the Taskbar

    - Ctrl-Alt-Del: Restart or Shutdown

    - Move the mouse past the lower left corner: Search (for Apps), Settings (Desktop) and Power shutdown or restart

    Other links:

    * Designing search for the Start screen article

    * Search: integrating into the Windows 8 search experience webcast in Channel9

    * Windows 8 to offer new Metro-based search feature article

    Windows 8 Developer Preview English, 32-bit (x86)

    DOWNLOAD (2.8 GB)

    Sha 1 hash - 4E0698BBABE01ED27582C9FC16AD21C4422913CC

    Includes a disk image file (.iso) to install the Windows 8 Developer Preview and Metro style apps on a 32-bit PC.

    How to install the Windows 8 Developer Preview from an ISO image

    The Windows 8 Developer Preview is delivered as an .iso image that must be converted into installation media stored on a DVD or a USB flash drive. On Windows 7, the easiest way to convert this file is to use Windows Disc Image Burner

     

     

  • Que Nguyen's Microsoft techology blog

    Making a Wireless Connection Accessible to a Hyper-V Virtual Machine (VM)

    • 0 Comments

    There are a number of resources regarding this that I’ve seen on the Web in various blogs but I’m documenting my approach as much for me so I can remember it as for you as well. There have been a number of conferences that I have arrived at expecting to have a hard-wired connection to the internet to find out that there is only a wireless connection available. When your presentation demos are relying on VMs running under Hyper-V on the laptop, this is a showstopper since natively the VMs rely on a hard-wired connection being served up by Hyper-V. So how does one get around this and share the host machine’s wireless connection with the Hyper-V VMs? Again, this is the way I have done it, it certainly is not the only way. It’s simple to setup and once there I can toggle to use the wireless connection for the VM whether the VM is already running, saved or shutdown.

    How to share a wireless connection with Hyper-V VMs:

    • In Hyper-V Manager, under Actions, click Virtual Network Manager…
    • In Virtual Network Manager, select Internal and click Add     
      • Provide a name like, Internet Wireless Connection, and click OK
    • On the host machine open the Control Panel, click Network and Internet, click View Network Status and Tasks, and click Change Adapter Settings     
      • Here you will see the new “Internet Wireless Connection”
      • Hold down the Ctrl-key (to make multiple selections) and click on your new “Internet Wireless Connection” and then click on the “Wireless Network Connection”
      • Now that both are selected, right-click on either one of the selected connections and choose Bridge.
    • That’s it for creating the Bridged connection.
    • Now, in Hyper-V Manager, click on the VM that you want to make the wireless connection available to (the machine can either be running or off which makes it nice so you can actually change this on the fly).     
      • With the VM selected, open its Settings…
      • Click on the Network Adapter that was previously associated with the External wired connection.
      • In the drop-down under Network: select your new “Internet Wireless Connection” and click OK.
    • Once you start the VM, or if running once the network resets, you should be all set.
    • Don’t forget to change this to the wired connection again once you get back on a hard-wire.

    Source: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/donovanf/archive/2011/04/22/making-a-wireless-connection-accessible-to-a-hyper-v-virtual-machine-vm.aspx

    Other articles: http://blogs.technet.com/b/keithcombs/archive/2008/08/22/wireless-networks-for-hyper-v-virtual-machines.aspx & http://sqlblog.com/blogs/john_paul_cook/archive/2008/03/23/using-wireless-with-hyper-v.aspx (with RRAS)

     

     

  • Que Nguyen's Microsoft techology blog

    Deploying Active Directory Rights Management Services at Microsoft

    • 0 Comments

    At Microsoft, sensitive business information in e-mail and business documents was at risk of exposure to unauthorized users. Microsoft IT implemented AD DS so that authors could use Microsoft Office and SharePoint Server to restrict access to confidential data.

    Click here for the Technical White Paper

     

    Figure 2. AD RMS topology for the main corporate forest

    Products & Technologies

    • Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1
    • Active Directory Domain Services and Active Directory Rights Management Services
    • Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008
    • Microsoft Office 2010
    • Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
    • Microsoft Exchange Server 2010
    • Windows Mobile 6.x
  • Que Nguyen's Microsoft techology blog

    DPM 2010 requirement and deployment

    • 0 Comments

    * From Microsoft TechNet: We have tested DPM 2010 running in a Hyper-V Virtual environment and it is fully supported considering the following limitations, requirements.

    1) The DPM storage pool disks cannot be .vhd's - they must be either iSCSI attached disks or Pass thru disks.

    The following 4 types of disk configuration are supported as DPM storage pool in a Virtual machine.

    A) Pass-through disk with host direct attached storage (DAS)
    B) Pass-through FC LUN which is attached to host.
    C) Pass-through iSCSI LUN which is attached to host.
    D) iSCSI LUN which is attached to VM directly.

    2) Item level restore for protected Virtual machines is not possible because that requires the Hyper-V role to be installed on the DPM server, but is not possible if Virtualized.
    3) Short or Long term backup to tape will be limited to using iSCSI attached tape libraries, and we recommend a separate NIC for that connection.

    Other than those limitations / restrictions, DPM runs fine in a VM.

    As to your point #2 above: it is certainly possible to enable the Hyper-V role in a virtual machine. You just can't start any machines due to the lack of hardware support.
    For ILR, do the affected VMs need to be started? Or just mounted?
    If it's the former I can see that this won't work. If it's the latter, it should.

    Hardware requirement:
    CPU: min 1GHz, dual core, recommended 2.33 quard core
    RAM: min 4GHz, recommended 8GHz
    Storage pool: min 1.5 times the size of protected data, recommended 3 times.

    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff399021.aspx
    For the DPM database, DPM 2010 requires a dedicated instance of the 64-bit or 32-bit version of SQL Server 2008, Enterprise or Standard Edition, with Service Pack 1 (SP1). During setup, you can select either to have DPM Setup install SQL Server 2008 SP1 on the DPM server, or you can specify that DPM use a remote instance of SQL Server.

    If you decide to have DPM Setup install SQL Server 2008 SP1 on the DPM server, you are not required to provide a SQL Server 2008 license.

    The installation guide is here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff399503.aspx

     

     

  • Que Nguyen's Microsoft techology blog

    Volume activation at University of Wisconsin-Madison

    • 0 Comments

    Source: http://kb.wisc.edu/page.php?id=5294

    These are some of the important characteristics of Volume Activation 2.0 as implemented at the  UW-Madison.

    In November 2006, Microsoft rolled out their new volume license activation scheme, Volume Activation 2.0 (VA2). Windows desktop (Vista) was the first software released using VA2, but other Microsoft volume-licensed software will eventually follow. As of late 2010, the current versions of Windows Server, Office, Visio, and Project are also using VA2.

    VA2 shifts some of the burden of authenticating software installations and protecting activation keys from Microsoft to institutional users. Microsoft believes that preventing software piracy is an issue for all parties, not just for Microsoft, and VA2 is the next step in turning that belief into an enforceable implementation.

    Activation is not licensing; it's a means of ensuring that installations are licensed. The 2006-2010 Microsoft Desktop Campus Agreement that gives users the right to install the most recent version of Office and the Windows OS on computers owned by the UW-Madison is based on the number of Full Time Equivalent employees at UW-Madison, not on the number of computers at UW-Madison. Neither we nor Microsoft negotiated the Campus Agreement with the understanding that there was a fixed relationship between the number of employees and the number of computers eligible for upgrade to the latest version of Office or Windows at the UW-Madison.

    The bottom line is that departmental users do not need to concern themselves with the number of licenses or the number of allowed installations on UW-Madison-owned computers. They only need to ensure that the machine can be legally upgraded using departmental media, which means that it must be owned by the UW-Madison (for all software) and have a full Windows OS license associated with it (for the Windows upgrade).

    Link to Volume Activation 2.0 FAQ (from Microsoft): http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/existing-customers/product-activation-faq.aspx

    What follows are the important characteristics of VA2 as implemented at the UW-Madison.

    • An installation key is not required. Software installations will install and run normally for 30 days without any keys.
    • Activation is required. If activation does not occur during the grace period (usually 30 days), the computer transitions into notification mode. During notification mode, the user will see activation reminders during logon, as well as notification in the Action Center. In addition, the desktop background is set to black (for Windows installations).
    • There are two methods of activating VA2 software:   
    • Other activation methods are used for OEM installations and for retail(shrinkwrap) installations   

      MAK

      • How it works   
        • Computers connect directly to servers at Microsoft and perform a one-time, permanent activation.
        • Computers that cannot be connected to the Internet can activate over the phone
      • Activation Hardware Tolerance   
        • A MAK activation key must be renewed if significant hardware changes occur. As hardware changes occur, the software tracks each change, using a weighted score to accumulate changes made. If a cumulative score reaches 25, the software is considered out of tolerance and must be activated with a MAK. Table 3 lists hardware components and their relative weight.
        • Table 3. Activation Hardware Tolerances
      Component class nameWeight
      CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM 1
      Display adapter 1
      RAM amount range (for example, 0–512 MB, 512 MB–1 GB, 2–4 GB) 1
      Audio adapter 2
      Network adapter Media Access Control (MAC) address 2
      Small computer system interface (SCSI) adapter 2
      Integrated device electronics (IDE) adapter 3
      Processor 3
      BIOS identification (0 always matches) 9
      Physical operating system hard drive device serial number 11

      KMS

      • How it works   
        • KMS activation requires a local machine running the Key Management Service on which client computers activate.
        • There is no limit to the number of computers that can activate against a KMS server.
        • Finding the machine running the KMS       
          • A KMS can be set up to publish SRV records in DNS that will automatically direct volume licensed software to the KMS server. If that is done, any client on a subnet that can access the KMS (and has not been set up to perform some other mode of activation) will find and activate on that KMS.
          • A KMS can be set up to notpublish SRV records in DNS. If that is done, clients will have to know the IP address and/or the DNS name of the machine running the KMS in order to activate.
          • Individual computers can be set up to activate on a specific KMS server.           
            • The procedure to change a machine currently activated with an MAK to KMS can be found in kb doc 5364.
        • The activations are leases. Once clients find and activate on a KMS server, their lease is 180 days.       
          • If a client is unable to reconnect to any KMS server before that 180 days passes, it will go into a 30-day grace period. If that 30 days passes without activation, the client will enter notification mode.
          • Once a client connects to a KMS server, it will attempt to reconnect to that same KMS server at one-week intervals. Every time it succeeds in connecting, it will extend its lease out another 180 days from the date it connects
      • Activation Hardware Tolerance   
        • Computers that use KMS activation do not require reactivation for hardware out of tolerance conditions unless the hard disk on which the operating system resides is replaced.
      • Other   

      UW-Madison's VA2 Implementation

      • DoIT distributed Vista with an embedded MAK key. That worked fine for the limited number of Vista activations on campus and we will continue to use that method for additional Vista installations.
      • With the maturation of KMS tools and technology, we began using KMS activation for any Microsoft software that supports it.   
        • For large distributions (Windows 7 and Office 2010, for example), installations performed from media purchased at the Tech Store on machines that are part of the UW network will automatically activate on the UW-Madison's KMS server. They will not require any additional action by the user during installation, nor will they require the input of a key.
        • For smaller distributions (Windows Server 2008R2, for example), we will send instructions on how to activate:       
          • You can specify the KMS server on which any Volume-activation enabled software will activate by following the instructions found on KB doc 5364 (skip steps 1 and 3 if the computer does not currently have a MAK).
        • You can activate from off-campus on the UW-Madison's KMS server if you connect via WiscVPN. Both the OnCampus and OffCampus VPN profiles will allow you to activate. This works with both 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 (64-bit only works with the newer AnyConnect client).
        • Machines that will not connect to the UW network for more than six months at a time (primarily off-campus UW-owned laptops) will still require a MAK.       
          • To get the UW-Madison's MAK, please request it by emailing licensing@doit.wisc.edu.
          • See KB doc 5365 for instructions on how to change a machine from KMS to MAK activation.

      Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) Activation ― A software installation with OEM Activation is what you would receive from Dell (or another OEM) when you purchase a computer with software pre-installed. The new product activation technology used in software installed by OEMs is called “OEM Activation 2.0,” or OA 2.0.

      • OEM activation uses a special BIOS marker that is pre-loaded by the OEMs. It will never need to activate with either Microsoft or a KMS.
      • If you reinstall the software with media that came from the OEM for your computer, that will also result in an installation that never needs to be activated.
      • If you reload the machine with a volume license image, then it has to be activated using MAK or KMS.
      • Activation Hardware Tolerance
        OEM Activation 2.0 uses information stored in an OEM PC’s BIOS and Hard Disk Drive (HDD) to protect the installation from casual piracy. No communication by the end customer to Microsoft is required and no hardware hash is created or necessary. At boot, the software compares the PC’s BIOS to the OA 2.0 information on the HDD. If it matches, activation is successful.

      Retail (shrinkwrap) Activation

      • A software installation installed from a retail version must be activated online or over the telephone. Each retail installation of the software requires a unique product key.

       

    • Que Nguyen's Microsoft techology blog

      KMS host troubleshooting & monitoring

      • 0 Comments

      * Windows Activation: Troubleshooting and Monitoring the KMS. Source: http://myitforum.com/cs2/blogs/jsandys/archive/2009/04/08/windows-activation-troubleshooting-and-monitoring-the-kms.aspx

      As I've described in the previous two installments, the KMS is a pretty simple and straight-forward service. When you think about, this makes sense because the only thing that it does is activate clients.

      So how do you track what the KMS is doing and identify any issues? The first way is a vbscript located in %systemroot%\system32 named slmgr.vbs. This little script is the main way to interact with the KMS and the activation client. Running this script with –dli as an option will list the activation information for the local system; if the local system is a KMS, then will also list KMS related data including the number of clients that it has activated in total. Remember that this number is important because Vista clients won’t activate unless the KMS has already activated at least 25 clients and Server 2008 clients won’t activate unless 5 other systems have already been activated. The following screenshot shows the output of slmgr –dli on a KMS:

      image

      Of note are the following:

      VOLUME_KMS_C_channel – The type of license key that was used to activate the system. For a KMS, this also indicates what type of clients it can activate, see Windows Activation – The KMS for details.

      License Status – Indicates whether the local system has been activate or not.

      Current Count – The number of client systems already activated.

      DNS publishing enabled – Indicates whether this KMS system is publishing its SRV record in DNS.

      slmgr –dlv displays the same basic information with some extra thrown in. This in shown in the next screenshot:

      image

      The two above commands also work on clients and show the same information minus the KMS specific items.

      Both the KMS server and client add event log entries to track activations and activation requests. For the KMS server, there is a dedicated log view called Key Management Service located under Application and Services LOGs in the Event Viewer:

      image

      The KMS will add an entry to this log every time it receives a request for activation. They will look like the following:

      image

      The first field in the info section (marked by the red arrow), is the success/failure code; 0x0 is success.

      For clients, two events will be placed into the standard Application Event Log with EventIDs of 12288 and 12289 and provider name of Microsoft-Windows-Security-Licensing-SLC. 12288 indicates a client request and which KMS server the request is being sent to (blacked out):

      image

      12289 indicates a reply from the KMS, the success/failure code (marked by the red arrow below) is the first field in the info section and is the same code listed by the event entry on the server side:

      image

      There are a handful of common error codes, the full list is available in the Volume Activation 2.0 Operations Guide in Appendix 2.

      That’s the bulk of it. Like I said at the start, its a simple service that does only one thing: activate clients.

    • Que Nguyen's Microsoft techology blog

      Getting started with SCOM 2012

      • 0 Comments

      * Deploying OpsMgr 2012 – a quick-start guide from Kevin Holman's System Center Blog

      * Install Operations Manager 2012 Beta

    • Que Nguyen's Microsoft techology blog

      Private Cloud lab setup guide 3

      • 1 Comments

      This is the step-by-step guide for adding a free Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 SP1 or a paid Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core to the Hyper-V cluster.

      - On NODE1, shrink the existing drive so that we have the second partition to host the Hyper-V Server. To differentiate with the future Hyper-V Server on the boot screen, use this command (Run As Admin)

      bcdedit /set {current} description "WS08R2 Full OS"

      Check the new setting with bcdedit or Computer Properties/Advanced/Startup and Recovery

      - Install the Hyper-V Server

      - Change hostname to NODE3, set IP to 192.168.1.13, join domain

      - Enable Remote Desktop

      - Select 4: Configure Remote Management, then select 2: Enable Windows PowerShell, restart

      - Select 4: Configure Remote Management, then select 3: "Allow Server Manager Remote Mgmt"

      - Select 4: Configure Remote Management, then select 1: "Allow MMC Remote Mgmt" (firewall exceptions will be enabled, Virtual Disk Service allowed)

      - Remote Desktop to NODE3

      - Check installed roles/features: oclist --> Hyper-V role is already installed

      - From HN-SRV-01, in Server Manager, Feature/Add Feature: Hyper-V Tools and Failover Clustering Tools (in Remote Server Admin Tools), then connect to NODE3 Hyper-V.

      - From Server Manager (connected to NODE3), go to the Hyper-V node, create a Virtual Network connecting to the physical NIC of the NODE3. Name it ProdLAN.

      - From Server Manager (connected to NODE3), go to Services node, set "Microsoft iSCSI" service to Automatic, and start it

      - From Remote Desktop (connected to NODE3), run iscsicpl from the Command Prompt and connect to the SAN storage at 192.168.1.1.

      - From Remote Desktop (connected to NODE3), select 11 to install Failover Clustering on NODE3

      - From Server Manager (connected to NODE3), go to Disk Management node, after 2 minutes, this error is displayed "The RPC Server is unavailable". Resolution: check on both (managing and managed) servers to make sure all 03 "Remote Volume Management..." rules are enabled. (In my case, it is the managing server, HN-SRV-01) If not, run this in a CMD window: netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Remote Volume Management" new enable=yes. Close the Server Manager.

      - From the SCVMM SSP portal, stop all running VMs then delete them. Double-check using the SCVMM console.

      - From Server Manager (connected to NODE3), go to Disk Management node, after 4 minutes, the Disk Configuration on NODE3 will appear. Change the quorum disk to Q:  and remove drive letter of the Storage01. Note: all these 2 disks are in RAW format.

      - HN-SRV-01: Launch Failover Cluster Manager (from Admin Tools), connect to PRIVATE-CLOUD cluster, right click, Add Node, select NODE3, choose to run All Tests. You may need to restart NODE3 if it cannot be accessed. The test will show that it is not suitable however we choose to go ahead and create the cluster.

      - From Server Manager (connected to NODE3), add svcacct account to the Local Admins of NODE3 for SCOM agent push installation to work. Then go to Services node, set "MSI Installer" service of NODE3 to Automatic and start it (this is used for SCVMM agent installation)

      - From SCVMM console, delete any existing PRIVATE-CLOUD host cluster, and use Add Host menu item again to add NODE2 and NODE3

      - For troubleshooting purpose, you can disable the firewall on NODE3 using the Server Manager (connected to NODE3)

      - Use SCVMM SSP portal, try to provision 2 VMs. Test Live Migration and PRO tips

    • Que Nguyen's Microsoft techology blog

      Private Cloud lab setup guide 2

      • 0 Comments

      This is the version 2 of the Private Cloud lab step-by-step setup guide. Instead of using a single physical machine for DC+Storage+Management roles, the VMs are used instead for easy transfer to another hardware. Note: the guide is to illustrate the concepts only so it may not follow the best practices & guidance.

      * 03 physical machines:

      • One 8GB RAM, install WS08R2 as workgroup, add HyperV role, add ProdLAN network using physical NIC, contains 02 VMs:
        • VM1 named HN-SRV-01: 1.5 GB RAM. DC + Storage roles. A second hard disk will be added to SCSI which is a fixed VHD.
        • VM2 named MGMT: 3 GB RAM. Will install SQL 2008 wSP1 for SCOM, VMM and VMM SSP roles.
      • Two Hyper-V members, named NODE1 & NODE2 (2 GB RAM each), running WS08R2 Enterprise wSP1, joined to the AD domain on the VM1

      * A 4-port gigabit hub.

      Part 0. Precheck

      1. On the physical machines, install display driver (for using with projector)

      2. Make sure to check all physical machines are using 1GB connections. Disable any DHCP server (if any) in the hub.

      Part 1. VM1: DC promotion

      - Win 2008 R2 Std with SP1 installation
      - Activate
      - Rename to HN-SRV-01
      - Set ip (192.168.1.1) and time zone
      - Promote to DC (mycompany.com.vn)
      - Create a Domain User named "svcacct"
      - Prepare CPU-busy.vbs and store it to c:\shared for later use.

      Part 2. VM2: SCOM & VMM installation, SCOM-VMM integration, SSP portal installation on MGMT machine

      1. WS08R2 Std wSP1 installation, rename to MGMT, set IP: 192.168.1.2, join to domain

      2. Install SCOM 2007 R2:

      - Server Manager, Features: Add Dot.Net framework 3.5

      - Install SQL 2008 Std wSP1 with just Database, Analysis and Reporting services. Choose "Use the same account..." and enter "svcacct". Add Current User to DB & Analysis configuration screens.

      - Use Server Manager, add "Web Server" role. The following Web Server Role Services should automatically be selected: Default Document, Directory Browsing, HTTP Errors, Request Filtering, Static Content. Click to select additional Role Services: ASP.NET, .NET extensibility, ISAPI Extensions, ISAPI Filters, Windows Authentication, IIS 6 Metabase Compatibility, IIS 6 WMI Compatibility.

      - Install AJAX Extension 1.0 for ASP.NET 2.0 (or use pre-downloaded file ASP.NET AJAX extensions 1.0)

      - Install Operations Manager 2007 R2: Management Group: MyCompany; SQL DB size: 500 MB; Management Server Action Account: MYCOMPANY\svcacct (the account used for agent push installation), then accept all defaults.

      * Optional: Install Operations Manager 2007 R2 Reporting: Start SQL Reporting service if needed, launch Setup, type MGMT as the Root Management Server, Report DB: 500 MB, Data Warehouse Write Account & Data Reader Account: MYCOMPANY\svcacct

      3. Install SCVMM 2008 R2 wSP1 x64: only VMM server component (not the Admin console yet), choose to "Install SQL 2005 Express Edition SP3", then accept all the defaults (ports 8100, 80, 443)
      (Note: the SQL Express instance for VMM is named MICROSOFT$VMM$)

      4. Install and configure SCOM & SCVMM integration:

      - Open the SCOM console, Admin tab, import the required MPs for SCVMM integration:
      + Download & install these files "Windows Server Base OS System Center Operations Manager 2007 MP.msi", "Internet Information Services MP.msi" & "SQL Server Operations Manager 2007 MP.msi"  (or use pre-downloaded file OpsMgr2007R2_MP.iso)
      + Import the following MPs: "Microsoft.Windows.Server.2003 / 2008.Discovery / 2008.Monitoring/Library; "Microsoft.Windows.Internet Information Services.2003 / 2008 / CommonLibrary"; "Microsoft.SQLServer.2005.Discovery / Monitoring / 2008.Discovery / Monitoring / Library"
      + Optionally install the "Hyper-V Management Pack"
      + Go back to the Monitoring tab on SCOM console. Note: there is no SCVMM folder (only 10 folders).

      - Insert SCVMM 2008 R2 media, select "Configure Operations Manager" option. Type MGMT for VMM server. This will install the SCVMM console and configure SCOM (the SCVMM MP is added to SCOM, and a folder named "Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2" is added to the Monitoring tab of the SCOM console).

      - Launch the SCVMM console (use localhost), go to the Administration tab, System Center, Operations Manager Server, right click, Modify, and type MGMT for the SCOM server name. Click the Diagram button (right below the Menu bar) --> the corresponding SCOM Diagram View of the whole Private Cloud will be shown (once all setup steps are done, you will see Node1, Node2, VM1, VM2, etc...). You may need to click the SCOM icon on the Taskbar to show the Diagram.

      5. To install Self-Service Portal (SSP) 2.0 on the MGMT

      a. Prerequisites installation:

      a.1. "Message Queuing" installation:
      In Server Manager, Features, install "Message Queuing Server" & "Directory Service Integration". (If MSMQ is installed on a DC, go to AD Users & Computers, View/Advanced Features, select Domain Controller server, prop, Security, Advanced, Add, (type) NETWORK SERVICE (Check Names), and tick Allow box for "Create MSMQ Configuration object")

      a.2. Note: IIS 7 role, ASP.NET, Win Auth and IIS 6 MetaCompat items are already installed

      b. SSP installation:
      - Download SSP 2.0 (or use pre-downloaded file "VMM SSP 2.0.iso") and run SETUPVMMSSP.EXE.
      - Choose to install both VMMSSP server and website components.

      - Database server: type MGMT, click the "Get Instances" button to display "Default" in "SQL Server Instance" box.
      - Account for server component: type svcacct, click "Test account" (on a DC, username/pwd incorrect error message may appear, configure that account to be a member of Local Admin group)
      - List of data center admins: mycompany\administrator
      - Application pool's identity: svcacct

      c. Always check the Services snap-in to make sure 02 services "Virtual Machine Manager Self-Service Portal 2.0 / Helper" are started before proceeding. See the troubleshooting steps below (for "Settings/ Configure VM Templates" task for more information"

      d. To open SSP portal: http://MGMT, and add this site to Trusted Zone and Favorite Bar.

      e. SSP intial config:
      - Settings/Configure DataCenter mgmt, Configure Data Center resources, VMMServer: MGMT.mycompany.com.vn; click Add Network, enter ProdLAN in both “Network Name” and “Hyper-V Network Name” boxes, click Submit; AD domain: mycompany.com.vn; click "Add an Environment" and type "My Demo Environment", click "Save and Close"
      - Settings/ Configure VM Templates, click "Import template" (under Other Tasks). This error will be displayed "Could not contact the VMMSSP server. Please verify if the Virtual Machine Manager Self-Service Portal 2.0 service is running and try again". Solution: on the MGMT server, just add "mycompany\svcacct" to the Local Admin group, go to the Services snap-in, refresh and start the service "Virtual Machine Manager Self-Service Portal 2.0" and retry. The error disappears but you will not see any VMM library server to select. Solution: in VMM 2008 R2 console, Administration tab, User Roles, Administrator, properties, Members: add svcacct to that role then try again. You will now see MGMT.mycompany.com.vn in the library server drop-down list. Further SSP config will be done later.

      f. Configure to allow "Domain Users" to connect to MGMT using Remote Desktop. Test RDP using mycompany\staff1. Open IE. Add http://MGMT, and add this site to Trusted Zone and Favorite Bar.

      g. Optionally connect SCVMM to a standalone Hyper-V host to create a VM template.

      h. Export HN-SRV-01 and MGMT VMs to a folder for easy transfer to other hardware. Create copies of "Virtual Machines" folder and config.xml file in these two VMs.


      Part 3. Virtual storage preparation
      - Using Hyper-V Manager, create a new fixed-size VHD of 21 GB (consuming 5 min), and store it into HN-SRV-01 folder, and attach it to the SCSI controller.
      - Format the fixed disk as drive E:
      - install MS iSCSI Software Target 3.3.16554 (freely downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=19867, or use pre-downloaded file "MS iSCSITarget 3.3 for WS08R2.iso")
      - right click iSCSI Targets, Create iSCSI Target, name PRIVATE-CLOUD. In iSCSI Initiators Identifiers screen, click Advanced, Add, choose IP Address, enter 192.168.1.11 then 192.168.1.12 and say Yes when asked to allow multiple initiators.
      - right click Devices, Create Virtual Disk, File: e:\VHD\quorum.vhd, size 1,000 MB (1G), desc: Quorum, Access: PRIVATE-CLOUD.
      - repeat for storage01.vhd size 20,400 MB (19.9G). Create storage02.vhd if free storage is available (for future Storage Quick Migration tests)

      Part 4. Node1 & Node2 installation

      1. Install WS08R2 Enterprise wSP1

      - Activate, set time zone, configure IE ESC to Off (Enhanced Security Config)
      - Rename network card name to NIC, set IP ( 192.168.1.11 & 12 and default gateway: 192.168.1.10)
      - Rename to NODE1, NODE2 while joining to the AD domain, restart and remember to logon as Domain Administrator.

      - Allow Remote Desktop

      - Install display driver (for using with projector)

      - install Hyper-V role, restart, logon as Domain Admin to finish Hyper-V role installation.

      - In Hyper-V Manager, create a Virtual Network named “ProdLAN”, connect to External (a physical NIC), and remember to check “Allow management OS to share this NIC” (On production servers with multiple NICs, this box does not need to be checked). Make sure to use the same name (ProdLAN) on both NODE1 & NODE2.
      - In “Network Connections”, switch to Detailed View, and rename the newly-created-connection to ProdLAN. Check the NIC properties (only Microsoft Virtual Network Switch is checked, and IPv4 is not checked). Check the ProdLAN properties (now IPv4 is 192.168.1.11 & 12)

      2. Connect to the shared storage on HN-SRV-01.

      - In NODE1, Control Panel/iSCSI initator, choose service auto start, Target: 192.168.1.1, click Quick Connect, status should be Connected. Click “Volume and Devices” tab, click “Auto Configure”, there should be 3 volumes listed.

      - In NODE1, Server Manager, Storage, Disk Mgmt: bring online and initialize 03 new disks. Create and format volume named Quorum for the quorum disk and assign Q: dive letter. Create and format Storage01 and Storage02 but choose “Do not assign a driver letter…” option (new support in WS08R2)

      - In NODE2, iSCSI initiator as above, bring Online, and Change to Q: drive letter for quorum device

      3. Cluster installation

      - NODE1 & NODE2: add Failover Clustering feature

      - NODE1: in Failover Cluster Manager, Validate a Configuration, Browse, select NODE1;NODE2, then choose Run All Tests, takes 5 min, click View Report. There is a Warning sign in Network (IPConfig warning: no Default gateway info & Network Comm: Nodes are reached by only one pair of interfaces due to only a single network card is used) 

      - NODE1: Create a Cluster, Name: PRIVATE-CLOUD, IP: 192.168.1.51, takes 1 min, View Report, should be no warning/error. Quorum type should be: Node and Disk Majority (Cluster Disk 1). (The Quorum device is auto selected as Cluster Disk 1 )

      - NODE1: Enable Cluster Shared Volumes, the c:\ClusterStorage will be auto created on both nodes. Click CSV node, Add storage, add Storage01 (and 02). The Volume1 (and Volume2) subfolders will be auto created in c:\ClusterStorage of both NODE1 & NODE2.

      Part 5. VM Live Migration testing, creating a VM template in SCVMM and proposing VMs using SCVMM SSP portal

      1. Create a VM template in SCVMM libary

      - MGMT: in SCVMM console: Add Host to add NODE1 & NODE2 as well as PRIVATE-CLOUD cluster to SCVMM console. At "Host Properties" screen, enter "C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1" as the path, click Add, then Next. The SCVMM agents will be installed on NODE1 & NODE2.

      - NODE1: create or import a reference VM in the folder C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1, for example use "Base-WS08R2 Std Fixed-09-400", memory is set to 400 MB, 1 processor, set Processor compatibility, set Network Adapter to ProdLAN, etc... You can test the Live Migration if needed.

      IMPORTANT: that reference VM (installed with WS08R2 Std) must use a fixed virtual disk of 9 GB. If the default dynamically expanding virtual disk (default size is 127 GB) was used, the portal would not be able to Create the VM due to the insufficient storage error.

      - MGMT: in SCVMM console: Virtual Machines tab, right click the reference VM (must be in the Stopped state), choose “New template” command (the source VM will be generalized (sysprep’ed) and deleted), enter "Base WS08R2 WEB" as the template name, accept all defaults for Hardware screen; for Guest OS screen: set workgroup to CLOUD-WKG, browse to select “\\MGMT.mycompany.com.vn\MSSCVMMLibrary” as the Path. This will take 13 min.

      - MGMT: in SSP portal, Settings, Configurate VM templates, Import templates, select MGMT as Library server, MSSCVMMLibrary, then click Search, select the listed VM template, “Add Selected”, Next and click “Submit Request”, then click "Save and Close"

      2. Create BusinessUnitUser:

      - MGMT, in SSP portal, click User Roles tab, select BUITAdmin, click View/Edit Member (both administrator and staff1 are included);
      - Click "User Roles" again, select BusinessUnitUser, View/Edit Members, select Business Unit, Infra, Service…, click Add Members, enter mycompany\staff2 (previously created), Save and Close

      3. Create infrastructure in SSP portal:

      - Requests/ Register business unit (sample data: "Core Banking Unit 01", CBU01, staff1@mycompany.com.vn, Administrators: mycompany\administrator, mycompany\staff1. Click Submit. Click Requests again, and Approve.

      - Requests/Create Infrastructure Request: enter "Core Banking Infra", enter some Expected Decommision Date, Memory: 1G, Storage: 18.2G, click Next to “Service and Service Roles” page, enter "Internet Banking Service", select "My Demo Environment", Memory: 1G, Storage 18.2G, select ProdLAN and click Add, click “Add Service Roles”, enter "Internet Banking Web Role", add ProdLAN, click Save and Close, click Next to “VM template” tab, select available VM template (9G/400MB), click Next, click "Submit Request"

      - Requests, select the Infra Request, click "Internet Banking Service", in Template Library section, click “Assign Library”, select MGMT as Library Server and MSSCVMMLibrary as Share, Submit, enter the same info for “Stored Virtual Machine Location” section, click Save and Close. Click "Internet Banking Web Role", click Save and Close. Click the selected VM template, click Save and Close, then click Approve.

      4. VM Provisioning:

      - Close the SSP portal

      - Shift + Right click IE, Run as different user (or use RDP), mycompany\staff1 (as BUIT admin), add http://MGMT to Favorite Bar. Notice that the Settings tab is missing (expected).
      - Click Virtual Machines tab, click Create virtual machine, enter 2 as the number of VM, enter “WebServer” as Computer Name and 001 as Index suffix, then Under Template, choose the desired template, click “View Properties” to make sure the Storage is under the 21G limit, then click Create

      - In NODE1 HyperV Manager, WebServer001 will be created. In Node 2 HyperV Manager, CloudDemo002 will be created, and in Failover Cluster Manager/PRIVATE-CLOUD/Services and Apps node: "SCVMM WebServer001 Resources" and "SCVMM WebServer002 Resources" will be created.

      Part 6. PRO Tips implemetation

      - MGMT: IMPORTANT: Install the SCOM Agent on NODE1, and NODE2 (note: add mycompany\svcacct to either Domain Admins or Local Admin on NODE1/2 for Agent Push Installation to work)

      - MGMT: In SCVMM console, right click Private-Cloud host, click PRO tab, deselect Inherit PRO settings... box, select "Enable PRO..." and "Automatically implement PRO tips"

      - MGMT: Open Admin Tools/Performance Monitor, delete all existing counters. Click Add, browse to select NODE1, press the Enter key, then choose "Hyper-V Hypervisor Logical Processor - % Guest Run Time", click OK. Do the same for NODE2. Make the line thicker and of different colors.

      - In WebServer001 & 002, copy CPU-busy.vbs from c:\shared to the Desktop. Right click, Open with Command Prompt to execute. In the Hyper-V Manager of the Guest, CPU Usage will be around 48%, but in Task Manager of the Host, it is still 0%. In the Performance Monitor, the Guest Run Time lines will be around 50%.

      - Use Live Migration to move all WebServer001 & 002 to a single host such as NODE2 --> NODE2 HyperV will show 2 VMs, with CPU usage of each VM is 48% (Task Manager: still 0%), and Performance Monitor counter for NODE2 will be around 99%, and counter for NODE1 will be around 1%.

      - MGMT: Wait a little and a PRO Tip will be displayed in SC VMM console as well as SCOM alert view. The PRO Tip will be also executed to automatically balance the VM load.

      Appendix. CPU-busy.vbs file content:

      Dim goal
      Dim before
      Dim x
      Dim y
      Dim i
      goal = 2181818
      Do While True
        before = Timer
          For i = 0 to goal
            x = 0.000001
            y = sin(x)
            y = y + 0.00001
          Next
        y = y + 0.01
        WScript.Echo "I did three million sines in " & Int(Timer - before + 0.5) & " seconds!"
      Loop

      Part 7. SCVMM SSP Dashboard installation

      - server name: DASHBOARD

      - install DotNet Framework 3.5.1

      - install ms.com Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 x64 wSP2, using the Advanced option, then Stand-alone, once Finished choose to run the ... Configuration Wizard.

      - setup sql 2008 w sp1, only Database engine, use svcacct as the service account

      - dashboard setup process

      + VMM SSP Dashboard screen
      . app pool identity mycompany\svcacct
      . DB server name: MGMT (which is SSP server name)
      . VMM SSP dbname: DITSC (fixed)

      + WSS 30 info screen
      . site owner: mycompany\administrator
      . SharePoint DB server name: DASHBOARD ("Session Database Name" will be auto created)

      . accept the default URL which is http://dashboard:12345/

      References

      - How to Integrate Operations Manager with VMM 2008 R2 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee236428.aspx

      - Measure guest operating system processor utilization using Performance Monitor http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc768535(BTS.10).aspx

      - Guide to Setting up a 2 node Server 2008 failover cluster under HyperV 

    • Que Nguyen's Microsoft techology blog

      Hyper-V Architecture and Feature Overview

      • 0 Comments

      Hyper-VArchitecture diagram

      Hyper-V architecture overview

      Full article: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd722833(v=BTS.10).aspx

      * Hyper-V non-Windows OS support: Linux Distributions (VMs configured with 1, 2 or  4 virtual processor). Source: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/hyperv-supported-guest-os.aspx

      -- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 with Service Pack 3 (x86 Edition or x64 Edition)
      -- SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (x86 Edition or x64 Edition)
      -- Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5.2, 5.3 , 5.4 and 5.5 (x86 Edition or x64 Edition)

      * Dynamic Memory with SQL Server: part 1, part 2, part 3

      * Licensing for Virtual Environments article

       

       

    Page 1 of 9 (82 items) 12345»